Women's Lacrosse With Seven Second-Half Goals in Comeback Win Over Villanova, 9-8

Saturday, March 5

Villanova, Pa.

4:00 p.m.

Drexel University

5-1

Villanova

1-5

Drexel

Villanova

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Lacrosse With Seven Second-Half Goals in Comeback Win Over Villanova, 9-8

3/5/2016 5:53:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Trailing by four at halftime, the Drexel women's lacrosse team mounted an impressive second-half comeback to defeat Villanova on the Main Line on Saturday evening, 9-8. Drexel scored seven goals in the second half after trailing 6-2 to defeat the Wildcats for a second consecutive season and improve its record to 5-1 through the early going.

Emily Duffey led the Dragons with four goals, her second four-goal output of the season and the fifth such game for a Dragon this year. She added an assist for five points, a new career high. The senior now has 14 goals, tops on the team and equaling her output from the entire 2015 season. Lauren Gerrie notched a pair of second-half scores to aid the Drexel comeback, and Nadia Pelham-Lacey made it 11 straight games with multiple points as she chipped in a goal and two assists. Lacey Aghazarian scored one and helped on another, while Alex Beilman added a goal and Caroline Thiele an assist to round out Drexel's scoring. Defensively, Milan White had three big draw controls for the Dragons and Carlee Ries came up with eight saves to fend off the Wildcats.

Things did not look good for the Dragons early on. Villanova's Meghan Breen, who would record three points on the afternoon, scored the game's first goal just 2:33 into the action. Pelham-Lacey answered less than a minute later off a pass from Aghazarian, but the Wildcats would twice more over the next three minutes, part of a 5-1 Wildcats run. The Dragons' only other goal of the first half came off the stick of Beilman, who scored her fifth of the season with 18:14 remaining.

Drexel could not light up the scoreboard over that final 18-plus minutes of the first half, and went into intermission trailing by four. Though the Dragons did step up defensively early in the second half, they could not solve Villanova goalie Jaclyn Fraum until Gerrie's sixth goal of the season, set up by Pelham-Lacey, with 19:39 to play.

That score opened the floodgates for the Dragons. Gerrie scored another 38 seconds later, this one assisted by Duffey as the senior picked up the first of her five second-half points. Another 1:06 would elapse before Duffey worked in and scored herself, an unassisted goal that suddenly brought the Dragons back within one. She evened the score with 16:35 to play, capping a 4-0 Drexel run that took just 3:04 to develop.

Villanova got back on the board and re-took the lead with Carolyn Dottino's goal coming with 13:34 remaining. After Bethany Bacso won a crucial draw for the Dragons, Aghazarian roped in her seventh goal of the year to pull Drexel even at 7 apiece.

Duffey would score her third goal of the second half and give Drexel its first lead of the game with 10:04 remaining, another unassisted tally. Her fourth and final goal gave Drexel a brief two-goal edge when she finished a Pelham-Lacey feed with 7:22 to play. Villanova would get one back on Chelsey Henderson's score at the 5:17 mark, and looked in position to tie it up after winning the ensuing draw. The Wildcats were awarded a free position with 4:23 to play, but the Dragons' defense beat Kelsey Denihan inside and blocked away her shot. When Denihan had another free position look two minutes later, Ries stonewalled her to deny the Wildcats' equalizing chance. The Dragons were able to run out the clock from there and escape with their third-consecutive victory and their sceond in two attempts on the road this year.

Drexel will be back at home for its next game, hosting UMBC on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. That will be fans' last opportunity to see the Dragons at Vidas Field until Apr. 17, as the Dragons embark on a six-game road trip that will bring them into the Colonial Athletic Association after hosting the Retrievers.