Dragons Season Ends In CAA Title Game at Towson, 13-10

Saturday, May 3

Towson, Md.

12 p.m.

Drexel University

8-8

Towson

11-5

Drexel

Towson

Dragons Season Ends In CAA Title Game at Towson, 13-10

5/3/2025 2:36:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

TOWSON, Md. – No. 15 Towson scored four consecutive goals in the fourth quarter and went on to defeat Drexel, 13-10, in the CAA title game on Sunday afternoon at Johnny Unitas Stadium. The Dragons trailed by just a goal early in the final period but weren't able to find the equalizer down the stretch.

Drexel (8-8) trailed by as many as four in the first half, but slowly chipped away at the lead in the second half. Max Semple scored back to back goals to start the third quarter to cut the deficit to 7-5. Towson countered with a man-up goal at the 8:06 mark, but Drexel put the pressure on the Tigers with the next two goals. Teddy Luthy found Semple and the senior scored his third of the quarter. One minute into the fourth, Drexel made it a one-goal game when Conor Hooley scored his third of the day. That lead was short lived as the Dragons went offside after getting possession and the Tigers' Ronan Fitzpatrick scored a man-up goal making it 10-8. That started a four-goal run that gave the Tigers (10-5) their 10^th straight win and their 10th CAA Championships.

The teams played an even first eight minutes with each team scoring twice. Fitzpatrick got the Tigers on the board after a long possession. Drexel countered with a Witt Crawford score evening it at 1-1. Hooley gave Drexel a brief 2-1 lead at midway point of the quarter. The junior shook his defender and fired a shot from the right side to tie it up. The Dragons had a stretch of some bad luck that turned the tide in the first. The Dragons hit the pipe on back-to-back shots within a minute. When Towson got the ball back, the Tigers turned it over in the Drexel end. With the ride on, Drexel was forced to throw a pass back in front of its own net. The ball deflected off a Drexel player and trickled into the cage, giving Towson the lead and the momentum. The Tigers added two more before the end of the first, the second coming with just two ticks left on the clock, making it a 5-2 game. The lead would grow to four by halftime as Towson sandwiched two goals around a Hooley unassisted tally. Brendan Donnelly kept the Dragons in the game with seven stops in the half, many of the point-blank variety.

Donnelly, Hooley and Semple were named to the CAA All-Tournament team. Donnelly made 12 saves against Towson and had 23 in the tournament. Semple's hat trick was the 23^rd of his career. He finished the year with 41 goals, just the 10^th time in Drexel history a player has scored at least 40 and the first since 2019 (Reid Bowering). Semple finished his career third all-time at Drexel with 129 career goals. Hooley had four points in the game and with his assist on Semple's second goal, he joined the 100-point club at Drexel.

Aidan Shortley, playing in his final game, won 15 of his 26 face-off attempts. Crawford had a solid tournament as well as he scored two more goals in the championship game after netting five on Thursday. Crawford finished the season with 31 goals and a team-high 49 points, the most for a Drexel player in one season since 2019..

The game was tight throughout both on the field and in the final stats. Drexel won 56 percent of the face offs, while Towson outshot the Dragons, 36-32. Drexel had one more ground ball and one more turnover. The Tigers capitalized on all three of their man-up opportunities in the game, all of them coming in the second half.