Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/21/23
From Press Release
Drexel scored four-straight goals late in the fourth quarter and came from behind to defeat Lafayette, 16-14, at Vidas Field on Tuesday night. Freshman Conor Hooley scored what proved to be the game winner with just 2:45 to play and Luke Tomak added an insurance score one minute later as the Dragons evened their record at 1-1.
Lafayette (1-3) scored the first four goals of the second half and took a 12-9 lead late in the third quarter. The Dragons (1-1) finally got on the board in the second half with 1:15 to go. Sean Curcio (Manheim Township) found Sean Donnelly who rifled a shot home to make it a 12-10 game. The teams exchanged goals to start the fourth quarter before the Dragons made a late run. Max Semple scored consecutive goals within 55 seconds of each other to tie the game at 14-14. Less than a minute later, Hooley scored from the left wing giving Drexel its first lead since early in the second quarter. Tomak’s second goal of the game capped a 4-0 run over a span of just 2:42.
Semple finished with a game-high five goals, his first five of the young season. Donnelly had four goals and also had an assist. Tomak had a pair of assists to go with his two goals, while Jack Mulcahy (Downingtown East) finished with three points.
Graduate student Justin Joseph had a big night for the Dragons. He won 67 percent of his face-offs (22-for-33) and had 17 ground balls. It was the most ground balls for a Drexel players since Jimmeh Koita had 19 against Towson during the 2019 season. Drew McGill picked up the win in goal, playing the final 30 minutes and making four stops.
John Mathes scored four times to lead the Leopards and finished with five points. Peter Lehman (Council Rock North), Charlie Cunliffe (Episcopal Academy) and Jacob Freeman each had a pair of goals. Joe Doherty (Malvern Prep) turned aside 16 shots in the cage. Drexel outshot the visitors 44-37 and had 41 ground balls to just 21 for Lafayette. Each team turned the ball over 15 times.
D3 – Stockton 14, DeSales 9
Dante Poli (Central Bucks South) had two goals, three assists and three groundballs, Tyler Horvath (Central Bucks South) won 15 of 26 faceoffs and scored once and Colin Hopkins (Springfield-Delco) added a goal for Stockton in its opener.
