Early Outburst Fuels Men's Soccer, 3-2 Over Binghamton

Friday, August 24

Vidas Field

7:30 p.m.

Drexel University

1-0

Binghamton

0-1

Team	1	2	Final F
Binghamton	2	0	2
Drexel	3	0	3

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Early Outburst Fuels Men's Soccer, 3-2 Over Binghamton

8/24/2018 10:24:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - New faces in the Drexel men's soccer starting lineup had impressive debuts on Friday night at Vidas Field, where the Dragons defeated Binghamton in the teams' season opener, 3-2. Kwesi Allen scored twice and Griffin Mallas added another in their Drexel debuts, with all three goals coming in the game's first 10:32. Cameron Sanders came up with seven saves including back-to-back stops from in close with just over a minute to play, preserving his first victory in his first appearance in net for the Dragons.

Mathias Ebbesen added a pair of assists and Neil Boyal registered one as the Dragons won their season opener for the first time since 2014. The early offensive explosion marked the team's first three-goal half since a 4-3 win over Towson on Oct. 10, 2010.

The new-look Dragons put the offensive pressure on early and did not let up, outshooting the visiting Bearcats 23-16. Just over five minutes into the action, Boyal sent a ball into the box where it was deflected by Ebbesen right to Mallas. The grad student transfer, who has two years of eligibility with the Dragons, finished with a low shot across Binghamton keeper Chris Shutler's body, beating him to the far post. Drexel's first goal of the year came just 5:14 into its first game, after it went 485:24 of game action before scoring in 2017.

With that icebreaker out of the way, the Dragons' second goal was not far behind. After Shutler had corralled a ball towards the top of the Binghamton box, rookie Chris Donovan pressed up on the Bearcats' goalkeeper and forced a careless turnover that bounded towards Allen streaking in towards the box up the left sideline. With only Shutler to beat, Allen did just that from 30 yards out, lofting a shot over Shutler and in to make it a 2-0 game.

That goal came 3:07 after the first, and the Dragons' third score of the night - Allen's second - followed after another 2:11. This time, Ebbesen gained possession near midfield and played a perfect ball in to a sprinting Allen, whose low ball in had Shutler off balance and unable to stop what would prove to be the game-winner.

The Dragons' three-goal lead did not last long, as Binghamton scored twice in the next 6:43. First was Nikos Psarras, finishing a cross from Noah Luescher off a free position following one of five yellow cards issued in the course of play. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Connor McKnight cleaned up a loose ball in the box to slash Drexel's lead to one.

Though 27:45 remained in the first half when McKnight scored the fifth goal of the game, neither team proved able to light up the scoreboard the rest of the way. Both had opportunities, however. The Dragons, not content with their one-goal margin, poured in 16 second-half shots compared to just five for the Bearcats. The last three of those five were heart-stopping for Drexel fans, though. With less than 90 seconds to go, Binghamton benefited from a broken play in the Dragons' end, and Luescher ended up with the ball on his toe. A wicked shot was batted away by Sanders, but Haris Brkovic recovered it for Binghamton and fired another one on the Drexel keeper. Again he dove and poked it away, before a third and final Binghamton shot by Kevin Flesch was blocked out of harm's way with 1:11 to go. The Bearcats could not mount another threat as the final seconds ticked off.

Drexel will look to continue its winning ways on the road next. The Dragons visit Lehigh on Monday evening at 7 p.m. for the start of a three-game road swing. They will also head to George Mason on Aug. 31 and Penn on Sept. 3 before returning home against NJIT on Sept. 8 at 6 p.m.