On Feb. 25 the Drexel University men’s lacrosse team lost its season home opener to the No. 12 University of Albany Great Danes.
The first quarter looked like an even matchup between the teams. Great Danes freshman T.D. Ierlan won the opening face-off to gain possession. A little over a minute in, a turnover by his freshman teammate Jakob Patterson gave Drexel possession and an opportunity to score.
Drexel freshman Chris McLallen scored the first goal of the game with 12:53 to play in the period. At 10:32, Albany tied it up. Just 40 seconds later, Drexel senior Joe Rainoldi scored his first goal of the game to put the Dragons up 2-1.
With 3:13 left to play in the first, the Great Danes scored two more goals to put them ahead 3-2. The Dragons responded with a goal from McLallen with 45 seconds to go in the first quarter to tie the game 3-3.
In the second quarter, Drexel won the face-off. The Dragons took two shots in the opening five minutes of play, but both were saved by Albany’s goalie redshirt junior J.D. Colarusso. At the 11:04 mark, Great Danes freshman Eli Lasda scored and was followed by his junior teammate Connor Fields just 43 seconds later to put Albany up 5-3.
The Dragons responded with 8:53 to play with another goal from Rainoldi. By the end of the quarter, Albany scored four more goals to end the half leading 9-4.
After Albany won the face-off to open the third quarter, they took four shots which all soared wide. With 10:26 left to play, Fields scored two more times for Albany, bringing the score 11-4. At 7:32, Drexel senior Jeremy Omrod scored his only goal of the game and the Dragons’ only goal of the quarter with an assist from freshman teammate Zach Manns. At the conclusion of the third quarter, Albany was leading 13-5.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the face-off was won by Albany. In the first three minutes of play, Albany and Drexel went back and forth on scoring.
Albany’s Adam Osika immediately scored a goal only 39 seconds into play. Then the Dragons’ Will Manganiello scored his only goal of the game with 12:53 left to play. Just 40 seconds later, Ky Tarbell scored for Albany bringing the score to 15-6.
Joe Rainoldi completed his hat trick for the game with 10:13 left to play when he scored another goal unassisted after two shots were taken by Wade Sherwin, both of which were saved by Colarusso. The last goal for the Dragons came with 5:45 left to play as Wade Sherwin scored his first goal of the season. In the next two minutes, Albany scored its last two goals to win the game 19-8.
The Dragons played again Feb. 28 against Villanova University at Vidas Field. This looked like another good matchup, and after the first frame the Dragons were leading the Wildcats 3-2.
In the second frame, the Dragons allowed the Wildcats to tie the score twice, but never to lead. With 6:29 to play in the second quarter, the Dragons went on a 3-0 scoring run to lead the Wildcats at the end of the quarter 8-5.
At the start of the third quarter, the Dragons kept charging the Wildcats to increase that scoring run to 5-0 before the Wildcats finally managed to stop the bleeding four minutes in. Another two goals from Villanova brought the score to 10-8 with Drexel still leading. The last goal of the quarter came from Drexel’s Robert Frazee before the Wildcats scored another two goals to enter the fourth trailing Drexel by two.
The fourth quarter is where it became interesting. Drexel only had a two-point lead, but the Wildcats were able to go on a 5-0 scoring run against the Dragons, bringing the score to 15-12 with only 1:39 left to play. A final shot by Drexel Cole Shafer 13 seconds later was the last goal of the game for either teams with the comeback win belonging to the Wildcats.
Overall, the Dragons had seven different players score in this game, with Shafer’s four goals being the team’s high mark. Will Manganiello, Frazee and Reid Bowering each had two goals. Rainoldi, McLallen and Cam Harris each had one goal as well.
The Dragons play again Saturday, March 4 in Poughkeepsie, New York at 1 p.m. against the Marist College Red Foxes.