No. 2 Albany Defeats Drexel, 18-5

Saturday, February 24

Albany, N.Y.

12 p.m.

Drexel University

0-2

#2 Albany

2-0

Drexel

UAlbany

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

2/24/2018 1:50:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Albany, N.Y. – Drexel suffered its second straight loss to open the season on Saturday at No. 2 Albany. The Great Danes showed why they are one of the favorites to advance to Championship Weekend with a convincing 18-5 win over Drexel (0-2).

The Great Danes (2-0), coming off a 15-3 dismantling of Syracuse, opened the game by scoring the first six goals of the game. Connor Fields got Albany one the scoreboard just 41 seconds into the game. Albany set the tone early, controlling possession as All-American T.D. Ierlan won the first nine face offs for the Great Danes. Irelan, who finished second in the nation in face-off percentage a year ago, won 21 of his 22 face-off attempts in the game. The Dragons finally got on the board when Matthew Varian scored an unassisted goal with six minutes left in the first. That would be Drexel's only goal of the quarter as Albany led 9-1 after one period. Fields had two goals and three assists in the quarter, while Justin Reh had all three of his goals in the first 15 minutes. It was the second straight season Reh notched three goals against DU.

The second quarter did not go much better for the Dragons. Albany scored seven straight before Drexel was finally able to score with just 12 seconds to play before half. Will Manganiello scored his fourth of the year from Nick Fox to make it 16-2. The Great Danes scored two more in the third to make it 18-2 heading into the fourth quarter.

Drexel's Jake O'Donnell set up Ryan Genord's first career goal in the first minutes of the final quarter. Chris McLallen scored a pair of goals for Drexel, his first two of the season, to make it 18-5. Both teams emptied their benches in the fourth quarter, when Drexel outscored Albany, 3-0. The Dragons played four different players in goal. Six different players took draws for Drexel to try to show Albany different looks, but none worked as the Danes won all but two face offs in the game.

John Roulston started in the cage for the Dragons and made six saves in the first half. Casey DuBois registered three saves, while Chre Teitelbaum also made a stop. John Van Sickle also saw time in the cage.

Fields continued to be a thorn in the Dragons' side. He finished the day with nine points after recording 10 against Drexel last year in Philadelphia. Drexel isn't the only team that struggles with Fields, as the senior led the nation in scoring a year ago with 117 points. That was the fourth-highest total in NCAA Division I history. Reh and Tehoka Nanticoke each had three goals and two assists, while Kyle McClancy also scored three times.

J.D. Colarusso started in goal for Albany and made eight saves.

The Dragons play their third straight game against a nationally-ranked team to start the season on Tuesday. Drexel will visit No. 8 Villanova at 4 p.m.