Men's Soccer Falls to Delaware, Drops from Postseason Contention

Wednesday, October 29

Vidas Field

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

5-9-3, 1-5-1

Delaware

11-5-1, 4-2-1

DELAWARE

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Men's Soccer Falls to Delaware, Drops from Postseason Contention

10/29/2014 8:33:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Drexel men's soccer team, which had won the previous two Colonial Athletic Association regular season championships, will not return to the CAA tournament in 2014. The Dragons were eliminated from the CAA race on Wednesday night when they fell to Delaware at Vidas Field, 4-0. Drexel came into the night needing to win its final two contests and get help, but it could not take care of business on its end.

Drexel ceded two goals in 16 seconds in the 36th minute to fall behind, a deficit it could not overcome. The Blue Hens added another goal before halftime, then one more in the second half to finish the scoring. Joe Dipre had a goal and two assists to lead the way for the Blue Hens.

The Dragons were not without opportunities. In the 25th minute, with the game still scoreless, Drexel gained control near midfield. John Grosh took the ball upfield, using a spin move to create space for himself. He sent off a touch pass to Michele Pataia, who chipped the ball off a defender and over to Erik Alexandersson on the right side. The freshman fired at the nearly empty net, but the ball sailed just wide as the game remained scoreless.

Delaware scored its first goal with 9:38 remaining in the first half. Kyle Bruno found Dipre at the top of the box. Dipre deked his way around a defender and curled a shot into the right corner of the net. After the ensuing kickoff, the Blue Hens struck again immediately. This time, Dipre fed a streaking Bruno, who brought the ball all the way up the field, outrunning defenders and firing low and to the left, scoring just inside the goalpost.

The Blue Hens added a third goal in the 42nd minute when Angus Maloney scored off a corner insertion by Ben Asante. Maloney had just entered the game as Bruno had been injured on the play that led to the corner.

Drexel had a chance to get on the board just before halftime and slash into the deficit, but could not come through. The Dragons had back-to-back corners, the second of which resulted in a header shot from Matthew DiDomenico. His ball went straight down and nearly skipped past Delaware goalkeeper Borja Barbero, but Barbero was able to corral it to keep the Dragons off the scoreboard.

Delaware added a fourth goal in the 55th minute when Dipre sent a cross through the goalmouth to Asante, who slid in and hit a tight-angle shot to make it 4-0.

The Dragons continued to have scoring chances, earning 10 corners to the Blue Hens' four. Seven of the Dragons' corners came in the second half. However, they were outshot for the game 15-11. Both Barbero and Drexel goalkeeper Tyler Afflerbach came up with four saves.

Drexel will conclude its season on Saturday afternoon as the Dragons host UNCW at 4:00 p.m. The game will be preceded by the Senior Day ceremony.