Last Saturday, The Drexel Dragons Women’s Lacrosse team traveled to Hempstead, New York, to face the Hofstra Pride in the CAA regular-season finale. Both teams came into the match 6-1 in conference play, looking to end the season with a victory.
Drexel opened the scoring early with Alex Wall through a free possession; Wall would double the lead with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining. Kate Marano found a cutting Wall and fired it into the back of the Hofstra net. Hofstra was able to cut the lead with a goal of their own before Corinne Bednarik scored through a wrap-around and a shot into the top right corner. Hofstra would score another goal to end the quarter 3-2.
Hofstra’s Melissa Sconone would level the match at 3 after piercing Drexel’s right side and finishing with a shot in the top left corner. Drexel responded with three straight goals from Bea Buckley, Bednarik, and Alisson Drake. Drake split two defenders with a spin move and a finish to give the Dragons a three-goal cushion. Jenika Cuocco played a pivotal role in Drexel’s defense. The red-shirt sophomore goalkeeper stopped five shots in the second quarter.
However, Hofstra continually pressured the Dragons and was able to fight back to level the scores again. They scored three straight goals of their own in the final three minutes, with a goal by Lauren Coletti tying the game at six with twelve seconds left for the Pride. Both teams entered halftime on level heads.
Drexel trailed behind for the first time four minutes into the third. Hofstra’s Kerry Walser cut across Drexel’s left and scored through a low finish to lead 7-6. The Dragons responded with four consecutive goals. The first two came from Marano, both assisted by Bednarik. Marano finished with two goals and an assist. With six and a half minutes left, Bednarik received the ball from behind the cage, and her finish into the box completed her hat-trick, marking her 53rd goal of the season.
In the fourth quarter, Bednarik would set up Wall for another goal to extend Drexel’s advantage to three once more. It would be her fourth assist of the game and 33rd of the season.
But the Hofstra Pride refused to back down. Walser responded with two goals of her own to cut the lead to one. With six minutes remaining, Sconone’s low shot found the bottom left corner of Cuocco’s net to put the Dragons and the Pride even at 10-10 with six minutes remaining.
With less than three minutes remaining, Drexel was given free possession with a golden opportunity to score. Buckley’s shot would go between the legs of the Hofstra goalkeeper and find the back of the nylon. Multiple last-ditch efforts by Hofstra came up fruitless as the Dragons’ defense was enough to keep them out, and would hold on to win 11-10.
The Dragons finished the season with a conference record of 7-1 and an overall record of 12-4. They earned the 2nd seed, which set up a rematch with Hofstra in the CAA tournament semifinals May 2.