With four losses and a tie to begin their season, the Drexel University men’s soccer team took their first win over the University of Pennsylvania Sept. 23 in the University City Derby. This was the team’s third consecutive win over the Quakers at Vidas Field and their second Derby title. The final score was 2-1.
In his second game of the season, junior Sebastian Cabral scored both of the Dragons two goals in the first half while senior Xavier Bou Hernandez had both assists.
The opening shot for Drexel was made at 12:51 into play by senior Erik Alexandersson but was blocked. At 15:24, Cabral received a pass from Hernandez and found the far end of the net for his first goal of the season.
Not even two minutes later, Hernandez was driving along the baseline with the ball again and found Cabral who made a sliding shot through the legs of a defender for another goal only 17:14 into play.
Although the Quakers outshot the Dragons 6-3 in the first half, Drexel’s two goals gained crowd excitement and gave the team confidence leading into halftime.
Cabral kept leading the offense right as the second half began. Just over a minute into play, he took a shot on goal, but it went just outside the net.
The Quakers weren’t ready to accept a loss to the Dragons. Sam Wancowicz scored just 6:06 into the second half to bring his team within one goal.
Defending their lead, the Dragons stood up on defense helping goalkeeper Jacob Jordan by blocking shots and putting pressure on the Quakers’ offense.
Jordan finished the game with three saves only allowing one shot to make it past him while Penn’s goalkeeper Scott Forbes recorded zero saves and allowed Cabral’s two shots into the goal.
After Cabral’s outstanding game against the Quakers, he was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week; the Philadelphia Soccer Six Co-Player of the Week along with Lucas Hodges from Villanova University; and the Drexel University School of Education’s Athlete of the Week along with fellow Dragon Christiana Ogunsami, the senior women’s soccer goalkeeper.
The Dragons traveled to Newark Sept. 27 to face their big time rivals from the University of Delaware. This was their second game in CAA play this season. Their first game against the College of William & Mary was a scoreless draw which gave the Dragons their first point in CAA play.
The Blue Hens had won their first CAA game against Northeastern. Drexel previously led the all-time series with the Blue Hens 37-21-8 with their last victory Oct. 2013.
The game was a tough matchup between these two teams, which eventually led to a loss for the Drexel Dragons 3-2.
Delaware came out strong in the opening half controlling the tone of the game. It wasn’t until 17:18 that senior Xavier Bou Hernandez took the first shot.
Fede Prieto scored the first goal of the game for the Blue Hens assisted by John Schroeder in the 29th minute. Just over a minute later, Chad Poarch had an open shot as Drexel goalkeeper Jacob Jordan missed a play that pulled him out of the net putting the Blue Hens up 2-0.
After two fouls on Delaware and a yellow card on Todd Morton, Drexel earned a penalty kick. Junior Mathias Ebbesen converted his penalty kick into a goal for the Dragons who were then trailing 2-1 going into halftime.
Delaware had outshot the Dragons 12-3 in the first half, but it wasn’t long into the second half that the Dragons were able to even the score.
In the 48th minute, senior Dakota Peterson had his first collegiate goal assisted by teammates Hernandez and Ebbesen.
Not wanting to keep the score even for long, Halvard Ramstad hit a header shot into the goal to put Delaware up 3-2 in the 53rd minute.
Overall, the Dragons were outshot 17-7 at Grant Stadium. Jacob Jordan ended with four saves for the Dragons which brings his overall total to 44 through eight games.
The Dragons will play host to the Northeastern University Huskies Saturday, Sept. 30, at 4 p.m. for Alumni Day.