Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/5/14
From Press Release
Mitch de Snoo scored the game-winner with just 46 seconds left in the third overtime period as Drexel defeated Penn State, 13-12, today in a thrilling Colonial Athletic Association game at Vidas Field.
Ben McIntosh scored five times and handed out three assists as the Dragons won their third straight game and improved to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the CAA. The Nittany Lions fell to 4-6 overall and 0-2 in CAA play.
Drexel got the game winner after Cole Shafer’s shot was turned aside by Austin Kaut (Springfield-Delco). The rebound bounced to de Snoo, who picked up the ground ball outside the right side of the crease and beat Kaut to give the Dragons the win. The Dragons appeared to have the game won in the second overtime. After a Penn State turnover, Drexel raced up the field and McIntosh appeared to have won the game, but it was called back. There were two balls on the field and the refs had stopped play before McIntosh’s goal.
Both teams had chances in the overtimes. Drexel twice hit the post in the extra periods and Kaut made three stops after the first 60 minutes. The Nittany Lions best chance came in the second overtime when Mike Sutton (St. Augustine Prep) was turned aside by Will Gabrielsen, the biggest of his six saves.
The Lions led by a goal at 11-10 with under four minutes to play in the third period when Sutton connected on a man-up goal from Dan Craig. They took that lead into the final quarter and it lasted until Ryan Belka evened it with 11:08 left in the game.
Two minutes later, Penn State got the lead back. Pat Manley’s unassisted score made it 12-11. The game slowed down and Drexel didn’t have the ball that often as the clock began to tick down. The Lions were called for a 30-second violation giving Drexel the ball back down a goal. The Dragons were finally able to tie it with just 1:21 to play. McIntosh netted his fifth of the day from close in and the teams started their overtime journey even at 12-12.
The Lions controlled the face-off “X” for most of the day, but despite having the ball often, Penn State fell behind early. The Dragons opened up a 3-1 lead as McIntosh scored a natural hat trick less than 10 minutes into the game.
Penn State answered with two goals in the final three minutes of the quarter to even it up. Tom LaCrosse and Nick Aponte made it 3-3 after one period. The Dragons answered with a big run to start the second quarter. Drexel scored four of the next five goals.
Ryan Belka scored the first two goals, including a missile into the top left corner to give Drexel the lead. Nick Trizano made it a 6-3 game before Sutton scored on the man-up for PSU. Drexel inserted Deven Thomas into the line-up to take the next face-off, and the sparingly used senior won the draw, picked up the ground ball, scored a goal and drew a penalty.
Drexel now led 7-4 with the man-up and had all the momentum. However, Penn State killed the penalty and got the momentum back, scoring five straight times to take a 9-7 lead at intermission. Sutton scored the first two goals during the run.
Kyle Baier’s unassisted score tied it and Gavin Ahern’s man-up goal, the Lions third man-up goal of the half, put Penn State up by one. Kyle VanThof closed the scoring in the half with just eight seconds left. Kaut made nine of his 17 saves in the first half and the Lions won 12 of the 18 first-half face-offs. In addition, the Dragons were put in the box seven times for 4:30 of play in the first two quarters.
McIntosh’s outstanding season continued with his eight points, which were a career-high for the Coquitlam, B.C. native. He now has 84 career goals and moved into 14th place on the career goals list at Drexel. It was his seventh hat trick of the season and his 10th straight multiple-goal game.
Belka picked up his seventh career three-goal game, while de Snoo scored twice. Jared Boudreau tied a career-high with three assists. Drexel fired 52 shots on the day to Penn State’s 34.
Sutton, just a freshman, entered the game with just one goal but found the net five times on 13 shots. He was the only other Lion to score more than a goal as Penn State had seven other players with one goal.
Dan Craig handed out three assists. The Lions won 19 of the 30 face-offs in the contest. Cole Yeager (Radnor) and Drake Kreinz had outstanding afternoons.
Yeager won 13 of 21 face-offs, while Kreinz was 6-for-9. Penn State won the ground ball battle, 30-28, but won just three of the 10 ground balls in the extra periods. The Lions had four extra-man goals, the most given up by the Dragons this season.
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