Field Hockey's Three Second-Half Goals Not Enough Against No. 20 American, 4-3

Sunday, October 16

Buckley Field

2:00

Drexel University

(6-9)

No. 20 American (Play4TheCure)

(10-4)

American

Drexel

Field Hockey's Three Second-Half Goals Not Enough Against No. 20 American, 4-3

10/16/2016 3:40:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel field hockey team (6-9) dropped a nonconference affair to the No. 20 American Eagles (10-4) on Sunday afternoon from Buckley Field by a final of 4-3.

The Dragons scored three second-half goals including two in the final five minutes but could not complete the comeback.

It was all American early in the contest as Rafaela recorded one of her three goals on the day 2:24 into the game as she took the ball all the way from midfield through traffic for the score.

She added her second on the afternoon about 18 minutes later with about 15 minutes to play in the half.

American got a third first-half goal from Haley Bowcutt after she scored on a rebounded save off the pads of Drexel goalkeeper Erin Gilchrist (L, 6-9) as the score was 3-0 in favor of the Eagles at the half.

Drexel sophomore Megan Wiest put the Dragons within two as she notched her ninth of the campaign about 12 minutes into the second half to make it 3-1.

But a response from the Eagles with 10 minutes remaining off the stick of Rafaela Rubas to complete her hat trick extended the advantage back to three.

Wiest scored her second of the affair and 10th of the year with under five minutes to play. Wiest has just come back on the field after taking a breather on the sideline. She only had one American defender to beat as well at the goalkeeper for the score.

Senior Idrienne Walker added a third Drexel goal with 1:08 left in regulation, her ninth of the season.

A green card issued to Wiest with 56 seconds left gave American the ball back and neutralized Drexel's last-ditch effort to tie the game up as American held on for the 4-3 win.

Gilchrist made four saves on the day across 70 minutes.

American led shots, 16-10, and corners, 8-2. Shots on goal were even at eight apiece.

Wiest becomes the first Dragon to reach 10 goals in a season since Lindsay McArdle (12) and Amanda Fleischut (11) each did so back in 2012. McArdle was a junior at the time while Fleischut was a senior. Wiest is the first sophomore to score at least 10 since Christina Mastropaolo (13) and Susan Ciufo (19) did so as second-year players back in 2008. The duo rank one and two atop Drexel's all-time goal leaderboard as Mastropaolo scored 60 in her four years while Ciufo recorded 58.

Drexel stays home to host the Hofstra Pride in the squad's final regular-season home matchup of 2016. Action for the CAA matchup is set for 7 p.m. on Friday, October 21. Drexel will honor its graduating seniors as part of a pre-game ceremony before the contest.