PHOTO CREDIT: IAN NEADLE
This Sunday the Drexel Dragons (13-4) will travel down Interstate 95 to Newark De. and face the No. 5 seed Denver Pioneers (15-2) in the Quarter Finals of the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament. The winner will punch the ticket to Championship Weekend in Baltimore.
The Dragons are coming off a 16-11 victory over the Penn Quakers in round one last week in Philadelphia. The win was the first by the Dragons as they are in their very first NCAA Tournament in school history. The Dragons are currently on a nine-game winning streak. The Pioneers advanced to the second round with a 9-5 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels, their 12th win in a row. Denver’s last loss was to the Penn Quakers.
Last season the Pioneers fell to the Syracuse Orangemen 9-8 in the semi-finals, they have advanced to Championship weekend two of the last three seasons. Denver also has one of the best coaches in history in Bill Tierney. Coach Tierney in 30 years on the sidelines has six NCAA Championships in eight appearances, 12 semi-final, and 20 quarter final appearances.
Pioneer offense is lead by Junior Wesley Berg (42 G, 18 A) and Sophomore Jack Bobzien (39 G, 21 A). Senior Jeremy Noble leads the team with 31 assists. The Pioneers have one of the most powerful offenses in the nation. They are third in the nation averaging 13.18, third best scoring margin at 4.94, points per game 20.53 (fourth) and shot percentage at 36.8 (fourth). To add a little more sauce to the mix they have the best winning percentage at 88.2 and the fewest turnovers 11.47.
The Dragon offense is led by Senior Ben McIntosh. McIntosh has (46 G,16 A), while Nick Trizano (38 G, 14 A) and Cole Shafer (35 G, 17 A). Faceoff specialist Nick Saputo who scored a hat trick last week has won 248-389 faceoffs while also picking up a team-high 163 ground balls.
Goalie Will Gabrielsen recorded a 13-3 record with a 53.4 save percentage and a 9.50 GAA. Gabrielsen started out a little slow last week but was able to rebound.
Head Coach Brian Voelker, along with his assistants Conor Ford and Chris Collins will have their hands full. But as seen by last weeks game are very much up to the task.
The Dragons will need to play a very disciplined game, and limit the turnovers and second chances. They do this, the Dragons could be blowing fire in Baltimore instead of blowing smoke in Delaware.
