Crawford and McGill Lead Men's Lacrosse Past Monmouth, 6-4

Friday, April 26

West Long Branch, N.J.

3 p.m.

Drexel University

6-8, 3-4

Monmouth

5-8, 2-5

Drexel

Monmouth

Crawford and McGill Lead Men's Lacrosse Past Monmouth, 6-4

4/26/2024 5:04:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Witt Crawford had a hat trick and Drew McGill made 13 saves as Drexel defeated Monmouth, 6-4, in a must-win game on Friday afternoon. With the win, Drexel's CAA playoff chances stayed alive. Drexel forced seven turnovers and the four goals allowed was the lowest total allowed by the defense this season.

With the win, Drexel (6-8, 3-4 CAA) eliminated both Monmouth (5-8, 2-5) and Hofstra from any chance to make the CAA Championships. Drexel will now need Hofstra to defeat Stony Brook on Saturday if the Dragons are to make the postseason once again. If Stony Brook wins tomorrow, they will be the fourth-seed in the upcoming tournament.

The game started anything but low scoring as Drexel got on the board early. Monmouth won the opening face-off, but turned it over and Drexel made the Hawks pay. Max Semple snared a feed from Connor McVicker and got the Dragons on the board just 23 seconds into the game. Four minutes later, senior Sean Curcio set up Crawford after a dodge and the freshman found the back of the net for the first of his three goals. There would be no scoring the rest of the half as the defenses for both teams played well and the offenses couldn't get in sync. McGill was perfect in the first half, turning away all nine shots on goal as Drexel held its opponent scoreless in the first half for the first time this year.

Monmouth finally got on the board early in the third, snapping a drought of almost 34 minutes. The Hawks scored three straight in a span of 2:21 to take the lead at 3-2 with 8:45 to play in the third. The third goal, by Connor Macrae, came with a two-man advantage. Drexel's Semple was assessed an offside penalty and Pat Lyman was called for unnecessary roughness. Semple made up for the penalty by rifling home his second of the day just two minutes later evening the score at 3-3.That seemed to get Drexel's offense going as DU scored four straight goals to end the third quarter and take a three-goal advantage. Crawford had the first two, one coming off an assist from Conor Hooley and the second from Caden Zadell. Zadell then gave Drexel even more momentum when he found the net with just five ticks left on the clock, making it 6-3.

After the three Monmouth goals in a row, the Drexel defense once again got stingy. The Hawks had another long scoreless drought, this one lasting a span of 18:05. Monmouth was able to cut the lead to 6-4 with just under five left in the game when Matt Dollive ended the scoreless stretch. That would be the last goal of the game as McGill had his second straight outstanding performance in the cage.

The Dragons did a much better job of clearing the ball, failing to clear just once in the game. They outshot the Hawks, 41-33, and won nine of the 14 face-offs, all taken by Connor Beals. Turnovers were an issue for both teams, as the Dragons (19) and Hawks (18) combined to give it away 37 times in the game.

Crawford had his second career hat trick and first ever in a CAA game. Semple finished with two goals and is now in 17th place all-time at Drexel. He passed Nick Trizano, Ryan Genord and Colin Ambler on the career list and now has 98 career points. McGill had his second straight game saving more than 60 percent of the shots on goal and has now done that five times this season. He ended the regular season with a .535 save percentage.

Tommy Heller kept the Hawks in the game with 14 saves. The Hawks were only able to convert one of their five man-up chances.