Dragons Fall to No. 7 Virginia, 18-14, in Season Opener

Saturday, February 18

Charlottesville, Va.

1 p.m.

Drexel University

0-1

#7 Virginia

2-0

Drexel

Virginia

Dragons Fall to No. 7 Virginia, 18-14, in Season Opener

2/18/2017 3:17:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Charlottesville, Va. – Virginia scored three goals in a span of 1:19 during the fourth quarter and went on to defeat Drexel, 18-14, in the Dragons' season-opener on Saturday. Drexel cut the lead to 14-13 on a Marshal King goal, but the Cavaliers answered with three quick scores to improve to 2-0.

Robert Frazee led the Dragons with five points. Frazee, King and Cole Shafer each had hat tricks in the loss. Frazee had two assists, while Shafer and King each had one. Mike D'Amario scored seven times, coming within one goal of the Virginia record for goals in a game. Ryan Lukacovic and Dox Aitken each scored three times. Zak Williams finished the day with four assists and six points.

Lukacovic gave the Cavaliers and three-goal cushion at 14-11 early in the fourth quarter, but the Dragons answered and made it a game. Will Manganiello scored an unassisted goal at the 11:47 mark, and just :16 seconds later, King scored his second of the game to make it a one-goal contest. That was as close as Drexel would get as Virginia started the quick 3-0 run just :11 seconds after King's score. Aitken started it with a man-up goal. Less than a minute later, D'Amario netted his sixth goal of the game, putting the home team up by three. Williams set up D'Amario for another one at the 10:01 and Virginia led 17-13. Aitken added an insurance goal before King halted the run with his third goal of the game with 1:45 to play.

Drexel trailed by as many as five goals in the first half, as Virginia raced out to an 8-3 lead, However, the Dragons played an inspired second quarter and scored five of the games next six goals over the final 9:19 of the first half to make it a 9-8 Virginia lead. Jeremy Omrod set up King to make it an 8-4 game. Omrod, who finished with three points, then scored a goal of his own before D'Amario answered. The Dragons would close the half with three-straight scores. Jacob O'Donnell, Shafer and Frazee each found the back of the net as Drexel went to intermission with the momentum. Unfortunately for the visitors, that momentum didn't last at the Cavaliers scored four straight goals to start the second half. Drexel countered with three goals late in the half by Shafer, Reid Bowering and Frazee, making it 13-11 at the end of 45 minutes.

The Dragons fell behind early as Lukacovic scored two goals to start the game. Frazee and Aitken swapped scores before Bowering converted on the man-up for his first career goal. Williams gave UVA a two-goal lead and then Michael Krauss scored with the extra man with just four seconds to play in the opening quarter, making it 5-2.

Virginia outshot Drexel, 56-32. Jimmy Joe Granito made 12 saves for the Dragons, including eight in the first half. The Cavaliers scored four of their goals with the man-up and won 12 of 17 face-offs in the second half. Overall, UVA was 23-for-36 on face-offs. Drexel struggled to clear the ball, completing just 17 of 24 attempts. The Dragons also had 25 turnovers, while Virginia gave the ball away 17 times.

Drexel will have its home opener next Saturday. The Dragons will host Albany. The Great Danes came into the week tied for 12^th in the nation according to the USILA Coaches Poll. Face-off will be at 1 p.m.