Dragons Breathe Fire as Varian scores six, Koita dominates face-offs
Saturday afternoon the Drexel Dragons (3-4) defeated the #11 Georgetown Hoyas (6-1) 15-10 at Vidas Athletic Complex in Philadelphia. Coming into the game, Georgetown was one of three remaining undefeated teams. Meanwhile, the Dragons had won two of last three games with the loss being a heartbreaker to city rival St. Joseph Hawks 10-9 earlier in the week.
The Dragons have faced three other nationally ranked teams this season and have lost to each of them. In their season opener they fell to #11 Virginia 13-8 at home, then went on the road to face #2 Albany and were clearly outmatched, losing 18-5. Then they played a game they could have won against #7 Villanova who stole it 12-9. So one would think the outcome could be the same as the other three, but with these Drexel Dragons, no task is too big.
Georgetown started the scoring quickly. The Hoyas’ Greg Galligan converted off a turnover to get his first of the game (and just second of the season) only 26 seconds in to give them the early lead. Things didn’t get any easier for the Dragons as Jake O’Donnell put them a man down for 30 seconds with a trip. Drexel was able to kill off the man down.
Lucas Wittenberg went five hole to get his first of the game (eighth of the season) to beat Chre Teitelbaum to give the Hoyas a 2-0 lead. But the Dragons would respond – Reid Bowering picked up the loose ball after Nick Fox lost it on a stick check for his first of the game (12th of the season). Georgetown would answer as Daniel Bucaro came from behind the net with a split dodge to score his first of the game (22nd of the season). Will Manganiello fed Bowering who was all alone in front and shuffled a backhand shot past Marrocco for his second of the game (13th of season). Drexel had two man-up opportunities before the quarter ended but was unsuccessful on both. The Dragons trailed 3-2 after the first quarter.
Robert Clark would score his sixth goal of the season to start the second quarter for Georgetown as he went top corner far side to beat Teitelbaum to give the Hoyas a two-goal lead. This would be the last time the Hoyas would be in front.
The Dragons would proceed to go on a seven-goal run over seven minutes. Matthew Varian would net the first two 65 seconds apart, followed by Jake O’Donnell and Charles Dumas (1st NCAA goal) scoring 33 seconds apart. Ryan Genord would score a minute and a half later. Chre Teitelbaum would come up with a huge save on Lucas Wittenburg from 15 feet out. Luke Stansfield and Matthew Varian netted the final two goals only 33 apart to cap off the seven-goal barrage.
Wittenburg ended the Drexel run as he took a pass from Daniel Bucaro in front and went five-hole past Teitlbaum. Georgetown would then go a man up as Cam Harris was called for a on minute crosscheck. The Hoyas would apply pressure on the advantage but Teitelbaum stopped Clark from 15 feet ending any chance of a Hoya run. Drexel took the momentum and a 9-5 lead into the half.
Georgetown’s Jake Carraway would score his first of the day on a fast break as the Hoyas drew within three at 9-6, but more importantly they started to gain momentum.
McDonald fired a shot but it went wide. Teitlbaum hustled and dove at the end line to get Drexel the ball. On the restart Varian took the ball in front, stopped, turned and scored his fourth of the game.
Craig Berg would score his first after picking up a loose ball after Will Stabbert blocked the shot. The shot hit Stabbert around the rib cage area. He did not return after coming off the field. Stabbert was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and was released.
The Dragons would put on a four-goal run into the fourth quarter that put them up 13-7. Marshall King would net his first of the game and Varian scored goals five and six of the day.
But, the biggest goal of this run came from face-off specialist and sophomore Jimmeh Koita.
Koita took the face-off and the ball came loose and went deep into the Hoyas’ end of the field. Koita hustled to pick up the loose ball, rolled off a pick and fired a laser past Marrocco for his first of the season – and his day didn’t end there. The sophomore dominated by going 19 for 24 on face-offs and picking up 11 ground balls.
Jake Carraway scored his second of the game to draw the Hoyas within six, but Marshal King would take advantage of a loose defense and iced the game. Carraway scored twice more in the final 30 seconds.
Carraway led the Georgetown offense with four goals on the day. Marrocco stopped five of 20 shots faced.
For Drexel, eight different players found the net. Varian (6G/1A) led, along with Bowering and King who each recorded two goals. Chre Teitelbaum was stellar in goal stopping 12 of 22 shots faced.
This was a big win for the Dragons as they have one more non-conference game this Sunday at 1 p.m. at home versus Providence. They open their conference schedule at home March 31st versus UMass.
