The Triangle

Issue date: 4/16/04 Section: Sports

Sophomore Matt Musci retrieves the ball in the Dragons´ April 11 game against Hofstra. Musci had two assists in the game.

In what would be best described with the sports cliche "heartbreaker", the Drexel Men's lacrosse team lost a hotly-contested game to the Hofstra Pride, 8-7.

Senior midfielder Joe Fiore scored three goals in the final home game of his career, and almost single-handedly kept this game close.

Fiore scored the game's initial goal, but the Pride answered with four unanswered goals, two by sophomore midfielder Chris Unterstein, to take the quick lead. That lead grew to as much as four goals in the third quarter when Fiore scored his second goal, bringing the Dragons back within a three point defecit.

Hofstra seemingly scored at will during the first half, but the Dragons defense tightened and was able to stop the bleeding and force turnovers during the second half.

After Hofstra pushed it back to four, sophomore midfielder Chris Fillipone scored on a pass from Matt Musci.

Fiore's third goal of the game cut the lead to 8-6 with 2:25 to play in the fourth quarter.

Drexel pulled to within one point when Jonathan Decanio took a pass from Musci and beat Hofstra goalie Matt Southard from close range.

A game that had the makings of a blowout in the first half was suddenly up for grabs. But the improbable comeback fell short when Drexel failed to even the score in the final minute, managing just one shot on goal despite having possession for most of the final 60 seconds. When the final buzzer sounded, the Dragons' gritty effort was simply not enough to overcome the lopsided scoring in the first half.

They simply couldn't find anything to counter Unterstein, who led the Pride with four goals and has tallied 13 in what has become a breakthrough season. Nine of ten starters will be back in University City next year, with Fiore the lone graduating senior.

While that makes the future bright, the present finds this Dragons men's lacrosse team trying to cope with another tough loss in a season that began with high expectations.

The Dragons will try to rebound from this defeat when they travel to Delaware to take on the Blue Hens (8-3 overall, 1-1 CAA) on Saturday, April 17.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools