Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Towson University (#2 Seed)
The Dragons Set to Face Towson in CAA Semifinals on Thursday
5/3/2023 11:02:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Location: Tiger Field - Towson, Md.
Watch: LacrosseTV
Social Media
@DrexelWLAX | @DrexelDragons
Opening Draw
Drexel faces Towson in the CAA Semifinals from Tiger Field on Thursday afternoon. The playoff contest will be a rematch of last year's CAA Championships where the Dragons defeated the Tigers, 11-10 in overtime for their first conference title. DUWLAX finished the regular season at 12-4 and 5-2 in CAA play. The game will be featured on LacrosseTV at 2:30pm.
Last Time Out - Drexel Defeats Monmouth to Clinch the No. 3 Seed in the CAA Tournament
Drexel's defense held Monmouth to three goals in the second half as they clinched their spot in the CAA Championships in a hard-fought 19-14 victory over the Hawks on Saturday afternoon at Vidas Field.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Bednarik earned six tallies, five draw controls, and two ground balls.
- Bednarik, Grace Harding and Alex Wall each scored at least four goals.
- Cuocco found 12 saves and one ground ball.
- DU was 18-20 on defensive clears and won the ground ball battle over MU, 18-9
- Bement anchored the defense as she caused four turnovers and picked up four ground balls.
- Simpson and Bednarik started the Dragons off strong with goals in the opening two minutes. The Hawks answered back with a score before Lindsey Dean found the back of the net to give DU a 3-1 lead. Bednarik earned two more goals in the quarter and MU slipped three tallies past the Dragons as the first frame ended in a 6-5 advantage for Drexel.
- Monmouth took their first lead with two goals early in the second quarter. Alex Wall answered back to even the game at seven. The teams went wire-to-wire as the contest was tied at ten with 27 seconds left after Harding scored. The Hawks were able to take a one-goal lead into halftime as they scored with 19 seconds left.
- The Dragons came out firing in the second half as they earned six consecutive goals and held MU scoreless for all but five seconds of the quarter. Bednarik, Harding (2), Simpson, Fowler, and Wall all helped the team to a 16-12 lead into the final period.
- The Drexel defense held the Hawks to one goal in the final fifteen minutes and caused three turnovers en route to victory.
Starting Strong (Part I)
Corinne Bednarik earned the first CAA Player of the Week award with her five-goal, nine-point performance against Binghamton on February 11. In March, she was awarded the Division 1 Player of the Week by US Lacrosse Magazine. The Glenmoore, Pa. native is one of the holdovers from last season and enters 2023 as the active career leader for Drexel in points, goals and assists.
Doing Things The Simpson Way
With 32 scores this season, Hayleigh Simpson has earned a career high in tallies to close the regular season. Simpson currently holds a 95.4 shots on goal percentage. Coming into this year, she scored 34 goals in 55 career games. The fifth-year midfielder was awarded the CAA Player of the Week following her six goal performance against Fairfield on 3/11/23.
Starting Strong (Part II)
After not seeing the field in game action last year as a freshman, Jenika Cuocco has fully taken the goalkeeping position for the Dragons. She has exceeded all expectations, making 163 saves on 416 shots against and recording a 9.08 goals against average. Cuocco is currently leading the CAA and is 2nd in the NCAA with a 53.3% save percentage. Additionally, she was named an ILWomen Midseason Honorable Mention All-American. The Long Island native has been honored as the CAA Rookie of the week a record seven times this season.
Defense Strong
Drexel's defensive unit has been key to their success. The Dragons rank 13th in the NCAA in scoring defense allowing 8.87 goals per game. The team held the Aztecs scoreless for 50 minutes and allowed five goals in the teams' contest. Against William & Mary the unit earned 16 turnovers in a season-high effort.
I Won't Back Down
Drexel has shown it is not afraid to challenge itself with the schedule. After facing five ranked opponents last year in its 17- game regular season slate, the Dragons have an equal number of opponents this year who were either in the IWLCA Preseason Top-25 or were receiving votes. Maryland is the highest ranked at No. 2, but also on the schedule are No. 6 Stony Brook (April 2), No. 20 Johns Hopkins (March 4) and vote getters Penn State and Temple. The Dragons defeated Johns Hopkins, 16- 11 and Temple, 11-10 (OT2) this season. DU has received votes in three polls this season.
Conference Champions
The last two seasons have seen an unprecedented level of success for the Dragons who advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first times in program history. Coming along with that was a victory against Towson (11-10,OT) in last season's CAA tournament, the first CAA title for the Drexel in women's lacrosse. It was the first championship ever in the 40-year history of Drexel women's lacrosse, which didn't advance to a conference postseason until 2011.
Historical Perspective
Thanks to that success in the past two seasons, the Dragons have won at a clip that has only been seen a handful of times in program history. The four year stretch from 2019-22 (including the pandemic shortened 2020 season), saw DU win 36 games. Drexel has only won that many games three times in a four-year stretch when it claimed 46 wins from 2004-07 and 2005-08 and won 41 games from 2010-13.
Scouting Report
Towson enters the game 10-6 overall and is coming off a tough 9-13 defeat against Delaware on Saturday.
Six players have scored at least 14 goals for the Tigers; Lindsey Marshall (42), Milana Zizakovic (39), Blair Pearre (39), Lindsey Clark (21), Gabby Garrett (19), and Halley Koras (14). Setting the scoring up has been Garrett and Clarke with 21 and 16 assists.
Defensively, Blair Goodrich leads the way with 25 caused turnovers and 30 ground balls. In goal, Jo Torres has started in all contests for the Tigers in cage. The junior has garnered a 44.3% save percentage this season on 137 saves and 27 ground balls. She has earned at least 13 saves in the past three games.
Veteran Sonia LaMonica leads Towson in her 13th season as head coach. LaMonica holds an overall record of 146-100. Last season, she was earned her fifth CAA Coach of the Year honor. LaMonica has led Towson to four CAA titles and seven NCAA Tournament appearances. As a player for the Terps, she garnered first team All-America honors and was a candidate for the Tewaaraton Trophy during her senior season.
Series History
This will be the 19th meeting between the team and the third playoff contest. Towson holds a 12-6 advantage over the Dragons. The game will be a rematch's of last year's CAA Championship where Drexel won 11-10 in overtime at Vidas Field. During the regular season, the Tigers defeated DU, 11-7 at Tiger Field.
Ready...Set...DRAW!
Some things remain the same from year to year and one of those is the Dragons ability to gain possession after a goal by winning the draw. A year ago, DU topped the conference and had three players with 80 or more draw controls including Corinne Bednarik (95) and Maura Cissel (81).
History Repeats itself
Drexel will appear in the CAA Semifinals in its third consecutive season for the first time since three consecutive appearances from 2011-13.
New Look CAA
The Colonial Athletic Association lost one member from its women's lacrosse schools, but gained two more, all while improving its overall level of quality. James Madison departed the conference at the end of last season. Entering in its place are Stony Brook and Monmouth. SBU has been a national power for the better part of a decade, earning a bid to eight consecutive NCAA tournaments and making three straight appearances in the national quarterfinals. The Hawks, meanwhile, have four NCAA tournament appearances in their history and have won conference regular season titles in the MAAC in 2019 and 2022.
Up Next
No. 3 seed, Drexel battles the No. 2 seed, Towson in the CAA Championships on Thursday, May 4 from Tiger Field. The opening draw on LacrosseTV will be at 2:30 p.m.
