Coll's Late Goal Gives Drexel a 19-18 Win Against Fairfield

Saturday, April 9

Philadelphia, Pa.

1 p.m.

Drexel University

5-5, 1-1

Fairfield

6-5, 1-1

FFD

Drexel

Coll's Late Goal Gives Drexel a 19-18 Win Against Fairfield

4/9/2022 4:57:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Aidan Coll picked up a loose ball in front of the Fairfield cage and deposited it into back of the net with 2:06 to play as Drexel edged Fairfield, 19-18, in a Colonial Athletic Association game. The Dragons (5-5) trailed by as many as three in the second half, but scored four times in the fourth quarter to pull out the win at Vidas Field. Both teams are now 1-1 in CAA play.

Max Semple scored six times to lead Drexel and now has 29 goals in just nine games. Jack Mulcahy had five assists and seven points, while Coll finished with four scores and a pair of assists. Ryan Genord added four goals for the Dragons, who snapped their three-game losing streak. Taylor Strough led Fairfield (6-5) with six scores, while Jack McKenna added a hat trick. Mike Drake finished the game with five points.

The game went back and forth all day. Fairfield started off strong and had a 5-2 lead midway through the first quarter. Drexel answered with the next four goals, three coming from Semple and the other by Ryan Genord, and led by a goal after 15 minutes of play.

Drexel increased its lead to four goals with its second four-goal run of the contest. Genord, Mulcahy, Coll and Semple had the Drexel goals, with Mulcahy assisting on two of those. The three-goal lead was short lived as Frankie Labatti won the face-off and completed a nice give-and-go just six seconds after Semple's goal to make it 10-8. Strough then scored 36 seconds later, making it a one goal game. Each team added another score before intermission as the Dragons led 11-10 at the half.

Fairfield took the lead in the third quarter by taking advantage of eight Drexel turnovers in the quarter. The Stags scored seven times in the third and had a four-goal run of its own midway through the third to take a 16-13 advantage with 3:13 to play in the quarter. McKenna had the last two goals in the stretch. Drexel finally broke the run when Matt Martin scored his first collegiate goal at the 2:11 mark. Nine seconds later, Semple scored his fifth of the game to make it 16-15. The Dragons' momentum was again short-lived as Bryce Ford gave the Stags a two-goal lead just 30 seconds later heading into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter settled down as neither team was able to score for the first eight minutes of the final stanza. Drexel broke the stretch when Zach Augustine picked up a loose ball rebound and made it a one-score game. Less than a minute later Semple was at it again. The redshirt freshman took a feed from Mulcahy in close and beat James Corasaniti to even the game at the 6:10 mark. On the play a Stag committed a penalty, which gave Drexel the extra man. However, the Stags won the face-off, killed off the entire minute and then as the teams reached even strength, Strough scored his sixth of the day to give Fairfield the lead yet again. That lead lasted an entire six seconds as Liam Rosato won the ensuing face-off clean for Drexel. He found Sean Donnelly on the left wing and the sophomore ripped a shot past Corasaniti to even the score for the ninth time in the game.

Drexel outshot Fairfield, 49-46, and had one more than the visitors from Connecticut. Fairfiel won 21 of the 41 face-offs as Labette had 17 wins and 12 ground balls. Rosato played well for DU. He won 13 of his 22 face-offs and had nine ground balls to go along with a key assist. Ross Blumenthal made six saves in the first half for the Dragons, while Drew McGill had four in the second half. The Dragons picked up the win despite turning the ball over 24 times.

It was the highest scoring Drexel game in the last nine years. The 37 combined goals were the most in a game since February of 2013, when the Dragons defeated Lyle Thompson's Albany team at Vidas, 20-19.

The Dragons face long-time rival Hofstra next Saturday on Long Island. Face-off is set for 3 p.m.