Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/12/16
From Press Release
Drexel used its best defensive effort of the season and a solid game on offense to down Bryant, 14-5, on Saturday afternoon. Cole Shafer had a hat trick as five Dragons scored at least two goals in the win at the Bryant Turf Complex.
Shafer moved into a tie for 22nd place in career goals at Drexel with 74. He needs just three to move into the top 20 goals. Marshal King and Jacob O’Donnell each scored twice and had an assist for the Dragons, while Robert Frazee and Joe Rainoldi each had a pair of scores.
Will Manganiello (Penncrest) had a goal and an assist and Miles Thomas (Conestoga) led the defense with three caused turnovers, a groundball and an assist while
The Dragons defense allowed just five goals, their lowest total of the season. Jimmy Joe Granito made nine saves before departing with one minute left. In addition, Bryant had 20 turnovers. The Dragons were good on the ground, picking up 28 ground balls to just 22 for Bryant. Nabil Akl had seven ground ball for Drexel and won 11 face offs as the teams split their 22 draws.
Drexel took control of the game midway through the third period. Marshal King and Shafer each scored their second goals of the game to put Drexel ahead, 10-3 with 1:43 to go. Bryant answered in the closing minute by scoring twice. Brett Baker made it 10-4 with just 49 ticks left on the clock. On the ensuing face-off, Kevin Massa won it clean for the Bulldogs, picked up the ground ball and scored to make it a five-goal game after three quarters. That was as close as the Bulldogs would get as the fourth quarter belonged to Drexel. The Dragons scored four times and held the hosts off the scoreboard. Frazee put Drexel ahead 11-5 with 9:22 to play in the game. Eight seconds later Drexel added another as Nabil Akl won the face-off and Jude Whalen picked up the ground ball. The long pole raced toward the Bryant goal and scored for the first time this season. Shafer completed the hat trick with 5:47 to go and Cam Harris added an insurance goal as Drexel won for the second time in three outings.
Drexel began the day by scoring the first five goals of the contest. Freshman Marshal King opened the scoring by dodging a Bryant defender on the right side and firing a shot into the top right corner at the 11:29 mark. Just a little more than a minute later, O’Donnell came in from the left side and got to the crease, where his right-handed shot made it 2-0. Will Manganiello, Rainoldi and Frazee added on to the lead before the Bulldogs finally got on the board. Bryant scored two goals in a span of ten seconds in the final minute of the first quarter to make it 5-2 Drexel after one period.
Drexel’s lead grew to as many as six goals in the second period. Shafer became the sixth Dragon to score a goal in the game with 12:48 left in the second, making it 6-2. Rainoldi dodged from the right side and scored from 10 yards out for his second goal of the game and O’Donnell again scored on the doorstep, giving the visitors an 8-2 lead. Bryant broke Drexel’s run when Cam Ziegler set up Tom Kennedy with just under three minutes to go in the first half. The teams would go to intermission with Drexel in the lead, 8-3.
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