Women's Lacrosse Takes Home Opener Sunday over Iona, 14-9

Sunday, February 18

Vidas Field

12 p.m.

Drexel University

1-1

Iona

1-1

Iona

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Lacrosse Takes Home Opener Sunday over Iona, 14-9

2/18/2018 2:30:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Drexel women's lacrosse team used a four-goal second-half run Sunday afternoon to pull away from the Iona Gaels at Vidas Field in the Dragons' 2018 home opener, 14-9. The Dragons improved to 1-1, while the Gaels dropped to 1-1. Colleen Grady led the Dragons with four goals, while Lucy and Jamie Schneidereith each scored twice. The latter Schneidereith also had three assists in the game. Pamela Giordano scored five times for Iona.

Drexel jumped on the Gaels early with two goals in the opening minute of play, but Iona, unfazed, came back with two of its own to even the score less than five minutes in. The Dragons and Gaels then traded two goals apiece to set up a three-goal Drexel run to close the half as it entered the intermission leading, 7-4. After Iona tallied the first two scores of the second half to cut Drexel's lead to 7-6, the Dragons scored seven of the next eight goals to take full control of the contest. Iona would notch two goals in the final two minutes of play, but it was too little too late as the Dragons came away with a 14-9 victory in their home opener.

The Dragons won the first two draws and took the ball right into the Iona end for goals both times. Grady got the Dragons on the board just 31 seconds into the game with an unassisted goal before Cassidy Delaney sent home a goal of her own 29 seconds later to give the Blue and Gold an early 2-0 advantage. Iona pushed back, though, as Jenna Tolzmann found the back of the net at 27:37 before Giordano did the same at 25:38 to even the score at 2-2. At 24:32, Jamie Schneidereith found a cutting Maggie Stetson for a score, but Iona's Giordano would answer less than two minutes later. Again, after Karson Harris tallied a score at 18:35, the Gaels answered on the man-up as Sarah Stewart found Kaitlyn Becker right before the midway point of the opening half. The final 15 minutes of the first half belonged to Drexel, though, as it scored the final three goals before intermission to begin pulling away. The run started as Alex Beilman found Grady at 8:54, then three and a half minutes later Jamie Schneidereith found Grace Osterdale. In the final minute of play, Stetson returned the favor to Jamie Schneidereith, finding the sophomore from Lutherville, Md. with 52 seconds left to give the Dragons a 7-4 halftime advantage.

After the break, the Gaels came out firing with two goals from Giordano in the first three and a half minutes to cut their deficit to one. However, the Dragons had the answer, ripping off seven of the next eight goals to take control. Grady notched the first in the run with 20 minutes to play before Lucy Schneidereith found her sister for the goal. With 11:39 to play it was Grady again, scoring her fourth of the game, this time coming off a feed from Harris. Less than a minute later, Harris found herself in the middle of it again, finding Lucy Schneidereith to give the Dragons a four-goal run. After Giordano got one back for Iona, the Dragons went on another three-goal run. The run began with just less than five minutes to play as Caroline Cummings found Beilman on the man-up, before Osterdale then found Cummings 62 seconds later. Lucy Schneidereith then capped the run, scoring off a feed from her sister, as the Dragons doubled up the Gaels, 14-7. The Gaels then scored twice in the final two minutes, but the damage was already done, as the Dragons went on to win, 14-9.

Drexel outshot Iona in the game, 31-20, including a 23-12 advantage in shots on goal. Iona's Shannon McCaffery made nine spots in the game, while Zoe Bennett and Sigourney Heerink combined for four saves for Drexel. The Dragons controlled 17 of the 25 draws.

The Dragons return to action Saturday, Feb. 24 at noon when they host Georgetown at Vidas Field.