Donnelly Leads Drexel Past Sacred Heart, 12-11

Saturday, March 4

Fairfield, Conn.

12 p.m.

Drexel University

2-2

Sacred Heart

0-5

Drexel

Sacred Heart

Donnelly Leads Drexel Past Sacred Heart, 12-11

3/4/2023 2:28:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Sean Donnelly scored a career-high seven goals and Ross Blumenthal made a big save with 11 seconds to play as Drexel defeated Sacred Heart, 12-11.

The Dragons scored three straight goals to end the third and start the fourth quarter to break an 8-8 tie. Zach Augustine set up Max Semple in transition to put Drexel ahead for good at 9-8. Less than a minute later, Donnelly came from behind the net, dodged two defenders and beat the Sacred Heart (0-5) goalkeeper to make it a two-goal lead with 1:17 to play in the third. Semple closed the run with his third of the game. Jack Mulcahy found the sophomore in front and he rifled a shot in the net despite being cross checked on the play. The Pioneers made it close, scoring the next two goals to trim the lead to just 11-10 with 7:44 to play. The Dragons answered exactly one minute later when Mulcahy came around the perimeter from the left side, got within 10 yards and drilled a right-handed shot into the cage. Sacred Heart got to within one at the 3:11 mark and then had the last possession of the contest. Blumenthal came up with the biggest of his 16 saves on the day to preserve the win.

The game went back and forth the entire first half before the Pioneers scored in the final minutes to take a one-goal lead at intermission, 6-5. The score was tied five times in the first half. Donnelly scored four of his goals before the break as he recorded his 10th career hat trick. He also went over the 100-career point mark in his career. Jake Ward had two of his three goals in the first half for Sacred Heart.

Justin Joseph had another solid day for the Drexel face-off unit. He won 15 of his 27 attempts and led Drexel with eight ground balls. Blumenthal had his best game of the season, turning aside seven of his 16 shots in the fourth quarter. The Dragons outshot the Pioneers, 39-38, and forced 16 turnovers.

Drexel will play a pair of nationally-ranked teams this week. The Dragons play Villanova at Saint Joseph's on Wednesday and then face the Hawks on Saturday at Penn.