After a big win against the University of Delaware April 22, the Drexel University men’s lacrosse team is currently in third place in the Colonial Athletic Association standings behind Hofstra University and Towson University. All three teams are tied in CAA conference play at 3-1. With the win over the Blue Hens, the Dragons clinched a spot in the Colonial Athletic Association playoffs.
Senior Cole Shafer had six goals, a career high, and one assist for seven points against Delaware. He was named the CAA Men’s Lacrosse Co-Player of the Week and the Drexel School of Education Athlete of the Week on April 24. For this season, Shafer has scored 33 goals, putting his career total at 117 goals.
Junior Jake O’Donnell completed a hat trick and senior goalkeeper Jimmy Joe Granito had an outstanding 19 saves, a career high, to help the Dragons clinch the win. This makes a total of 152 saves for Granito this season, which tops his season total from last year.
The game against Delaware was the Dragons’ third straight win in CAA play. In the opening quarter, Delaware won the faceoff and controlled the ball for the first three minutes of play. Both teams took shots on goal, but none were successful until Drexel’s Marshal King found Cole Shafer for a goal with 8:13 left to play.
Quick turnarounds for the Dragons allowed them to score two more times within a minute and a half. Jake O’Donnell had his fifth goal of the season, and Will Manganiello scored his eighth.
Over the next five minutes, both teams took shots either wide or high on goal. Junior Michael Meurer increased the Dragons lead to 4-0 with his first goal of the season with 1:55 left to play.
Only six seconds later, Delaware got on the scoreboard with its first goal of the game. The Dragons led 4-1 going into the second quarter.
During the first eight minutes of the second quarter, neither team scored. Drexel’s Robert Frazee found the net on a man-up for his 17th goal of the season.
Delaware scored two more goals to bring them within two points of the Dragons. With 4:01 left to play, Joe Rainoldi scored his eighth goal of the season, and then a minute later, Jake O’Donnell closed out the scoring for the Dragons this quarter.
The last goal of the second quarter was scored by Delaware with 2:18 left to play giving the Dragons a three-point cushion, 7-4, leading into the third quarter.
Cole Shafer opened the third quarter with a goal less than a minute into play, his first of three scored in the period. A goal by freshman Reid Bowering with 9:48 left to play increased the Dragons’ lead to 9-5.
The third quarter concluded with the Dragons leading 11-6 after another goal from Delaware and two more goals from Shafer.
Jake O’Donnell completed his hat trick with the opening goal of the fourth quarter 3:30 into play. Shafer followed less than two minutes later with his fifth goal of the game to increase the Dragons’ lead to 13-6.
Delaware managed to put up a 3-0 scoring run starting with 5:54 left to play to come within four goals of the Dragons. Cole Shafer closed out the scoring for the afternoon and ended senior night on a good note with his sixth goal with 0:54 left in the game.
The Dragons will play the University of Massachusetts in Amherst April 28. UMass is currently 5-7 with a 2-2 record in CAA play. Faceoff is at 5 p.m.