Photo Credit: Ian Neadle
The difference maker in this matchup was in faceoffs and ground balls. Both teams came into this game having top-notch draw specialists, but one was clearly more prepared than the other.
“I feel like faceoffs were called differently today than they have been all year and I don’t know why,” said Drexel Coach Brian Voelkner.
That quote has some validity to it as officials tend to allow more action and events to “play out” in postseason competition. With that noted, Drexel faceoff specialist Nick Saputo has been on fire all season, but was held to seven wins of 23 faces in yesterday’s game.
Whereas Saputo is used to making a move and bolting away with the ball, Denver’s Chris Hampton was mentally prepared to battle for every draw and the results reflected so. He won 16-of-23 faces.
That leads into the next downfall of Drexel’s: faceoff violations, which they accumulated three compared to Denver’s zero. It’s only three faces, but that’s a lot of confidence and offensive momentum stolen from the Dragons each time it occurred.
The final shortcoming I saw in Drexel’s performance was their ground ball recoveries as they only scooped half as many as Denver. Lacrosse Basics 101: games are won on ground balls. Whoever wants the ground balls most will win the game (at least its momentum).
Denver capitalized on four of eight extra man opportunities, and Drexel did the same on two of five opportunities. Both teams were two saves apart and four total shots apart. Clears were on par with one another. Statistically, these two teams couldn’t have been better matched. Performance-concerning they were far and few between.
For Drexel, players who found and secured open net included Ben McIntosh (2), Nick Trizano (2), Jules Raucci (1) and Nick Saputo (1). Ryan Belka, Ben McIntosh and Cole Shafer were the three assisting contributors.
Denver created a long list of offensive contributors starting with goals from Erik Adamson (6), Zach Miller (2), Harrison Archer (2), Jeremy Noble (1), Wesley Berg (1), Tyler Pace (1), Colin Woolford (1) and Dallas Bridle (1). Assists and feeds came from Noble (4), Berg (2), Pace (2), Adamson (1), Cannizzaro (1), Miller (1), and Planning (1).
It was a back and forth match for the first half of the first quarter. Then, Denver took off, scoring 10 unanswered goals. Drexel would never mount a comeback after that from lack of momentum alone.
The biggest and most crucial aspect of Drexel’s defeat was penalties. The refs seemed extremely one-sided yet again. It must have been the venue (L.O.L.).
Whereas Denver served three penalties totaling 2:30 minutes, Drexel served 11 for 10 MINUTES! That is one sixth of the game! Might as well have entered the field planning to play man-down the whole time! Yes, Drexel seemed a bit sloppy, but the officials were in another world mentally to make some of the calls they did.
Unfortunately, Drexel’s season comes to an abrupt close, but the coach and players have grown the program to extents it never previously reached. That is an accomplishment in its own regard.
Denver will meet Duke next weekend in Baltimore for the semi-final play of deciding the Championship contenders.
