Men's Soccer Makes Early Score Hold Up, 1-0 Over Villanova

Wednesday, September 3

Vidas Field

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

2-0

Villanova

0-2

Villanova

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Men's Soccer Makes Early Score Hold Up, 1-0 Over Villanova

9/3/2014 8:21:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Joaquin del Rosario scored less than a minute into the action on Wednesday evening and the Drexel defense made that goal stand up as men's soccer moved to 2-0 with a 1-0 victory over Villanova. The victory also gives the Dragons a win in their first official Philadelphia Soccer Six match of the season, although both wins this year have come against teams from the city.

Drexel has yet to allow a goal in 2014, though that was nearly not the case as the Wildcats led 1-0 late in the first half when this game was originally scheduled on Tuesday night. However, a lightning system that appeared in the 42nd minute ultimately forced the postponement of that game, and all stats were nullified. The Dragons made use of their second chance, scoring early and maintaining on the defensive end despite playing much of the game down a man due to a red card issued to Felipe Fagundes in the 41st minute.

Tyler Afflerbach, who now has eight career shutouts and two this season, came up with four saves on the evening. His aggressive play also saw him come out of the net to grab several Villanova crosses and prevent the Wildcats from getting anything going offensively.

del Rosario netted the game's lone goal just 47 seconds into the action. Villanova had the ball deep in its own territory, but a turnover gave the ball to the Dragons as John Grosh got the ball on his foot. He quickly found del Rosario alone in space. He controlled the ball as he came up the left side and calmly beat Villanova goalkeeper Will Steiner low and to the back post to put Drexel on top.

The Dragons and Wildcats would match up evenly with 11 shots apiece on the evening, although the Dragons' goal was one of their few strong looks at the net on the evening. Villanova outshot the Dragons 7-3 in the second half, but the Wildcats' chances were limited as well as only one sequence truly challenged the Dragons. A loose ball off a corner in the 89th minute led to chaos in front of the net, but although the Dragons could not clear it, they made life difficult enough that Villanova could not get a strong foot on the ball either. Sean Sheridan, who had scored the nullfied goal on Tuesday evening, did manage a soft shot that Afflerbach corralled to end what proved to be the last true chance for the Wildcats.

Drexel, which has already played two city schools with 1-0 wins over Temple and Villanova, will go for three on Friday evening as the Dragons visit Penn. That game also will not count towards the official Soccer Six standings. It will kick off at 7:00 p.m.