Conor Hooley Scores Six as Dragons Down Monmouth, 16-7

Friday, April 28

Philadelphia, Pa.

5 p.m.

Drexel University

8-5, 5-2CAA

Monmouth

5-9, 1-6CAA

MON

Drexel Dragons

Conor Hooley Scores Six as Dragons Down Monmouth, 16-7

4/28/2023 6:54:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Dragons earn second seed in upcoming CAA Championship

PHILADELPHIA - Conor Hooley scored a career-high six goals as Drexel led from wire-to-wire in a 16-7 victory over Monmouth on Senior Night at Vidas Field. The Dragons improved to 8-5 overall and 5-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play. They will be the second seed at the CAA Championships which begin on Thursday at the University of Delaware.

The Dragons had one of their best quarters of the season to open the game. Drexel scored five times before the quarter ended and held the Hawks without a shot on goal over the first 15 minutes. After a scoreless first 6:45 of the game, Drexel broke the drought. Defender Brennan Greenwald, playing in his final home game, took a feed from Connor McVicker and found the net for the third time this season. Less than a minute later Sean Curcio set up Hooley for the first of three first quarter goals for the rookie. Liam Kammar scored in transition off a nice pass from Max Semple for the Dragons other goal in the first.

Semple had the first of his two goals to extend the lead to six before the Hawks finally got on the board at the 9:34 mark of the second quarter. Face-off man Matt Soutar won the draw cleanly and went to goal and beat Ross Blumenthal making it 6-1. The teams swapped the next four goals as Drexel went to half ahead, 8-3.

Hooley was at it again right out of the locker room. Fellow freshman Ben Scandone found Hooley in front for his fourth of the night. This time, Monmouth responded and crept its way back in the game. The Hawks scored the next three goals and trailed by just three when Ty Caffarelli scored on a man-up situation with less than two minutes to play in the third. However, Drexel would score the next six goals of the game to regain control and end the regular season with a convincing win. Luke Tomak started the run with just 32 seconds to play in the third. Hooley added during the stretch, while Semple, Sean Donnelly and Jack Mulcahy also tallied goals.

The Dragons outshot the Hawks, 49-35 and had eight more ground balls than the visitors. Drexel committed just 14 turnovers, while Monmouth had 23, 12 of those forced by DU defenders. Mulcahy finished the night with three assists and four points. He passed Ben McIntosh on the school's career scoring list with 144 points. Semple had a pair of goals to go with an assist, while Donnelly scored twice. Both Scandone and Sean Curcio had two assists.

Ross Blumenthal turned aside six Monmouth shots in his 56 minutes of play. Drew McGill came in for the final four minutes and made three stops. Justin Joseph was 14 of 24 on face-offs and had 11 ground balls. Greenwald added a career-high seven.

Caffarelli had four goals or Monmouth, while Andrew Kuhlman had 14 stops in the cage.

Blumenthal, Greenwald, George Grippo, Joseph, Charlie Maly, Mulcahy, Patrick Udovich and Casey Waller all played their final game at Vidas Field. They were a part of teams that made each of the last four CAA Championships and won the 2021 CAA title. They will find out who their opponent in the CAA semifinals is tomorrow night after the Stony Brook-Hofstra contest.