Soccer (M)
Drexel Athletics
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Drexel men's soccer team brought a three-game winning streak into its game at Virginia on Tuseday night. The Dragons had demonstrated a balanced, efficient offensive attack all season, but they suffered their first shutout of the season and first loss since the season-opener at La Salle as they fell to Virginia, 2-0. Brandon Zeller had four shots and Drexel outshot the Cavaliers 13-8, but they could not beat Virginia goalkeeper Spencer LaCivita. Todd Wharton and Will Bates scored for Virginia.
Drexel had several chances early on, as they had four corner kicks in the first 23:28 of play. On the Dragons' final corner of that flurry, Fabio Machado sent it in and found Ken Tribbett in front of the net. Tribbett got his head on the ball, but LaCivita was in position to make the save and keep things scoreless.
Drexel Athletics
EASTON, Pa. - It had been nearly two years since Nathan Page got a goal for the Drexel men's soccer team. A 2010 Philadelphia Soccer Six All-Star, Page led the team that year with six goals, leading the Dragons to victory in each match in which he scored. After missing nearly all of the 2011 season with injury, Page was playing just his second match of 2012 on Wednesday as Drexel visited Lafayette. In the 84th minute, Page's scoreless streak which dated back to October 16, 2010 came to an end as he headed in a beautiful ball to give Drexel a 1-0 lead and ulimately its third-straight victory. The win was the second-consecutive shutout for the Dragons (3-1-1), who got stellar goaltending play from Tim Washam en route to the win.
Drexel's three-game winning streak is its longest since the beginning of that 2010 season, when the Dragons won the first four games in the tenure of now-third-year head coach Doug Hess.
Drexel Athletics
PHILADELPHIA - The Drexel men's soccer team kept the momentum going after a strong road trip to Colorado, opening its home season on Friday night with a 1-0 victory over Lehigh. Drexel put together an impressive all-around performance, outshooting the Mountain Hawks 15-1. Ken Tribbett recorded his first goal of the season, scoring the game's lone goal in the 63rd minute to provide the final margin.
Senior goalkpeer Tim Washam was not called upon to make a save, though he did have a potentially game-saving play in the 55th minute, diving backwards to grab the ball after Lehigh's Shane Mulcahy had taken advantage of a Drexel misplay to get control behind Washam in the box. Mulcahy was not able to get a shot off on the play.
Drexel Athletics
NORFOLK, Va. - The Drexel men's soccer team will not be heading to the CAA Tournament this season, which is good news for the rest of the league, as they have been playing their best soccer of the year with the year winding down. On Friday night, the Dragons concluded their 2011 campaign with a 1-1 draw at No. 16 Old Dominion, holding the Monarchs to just two shots on goal over the contest's 110 minutes. ODU came into the game leading the league in scoring, but could not get much going against the Dragon defense on this night.
Drexel outshot the Monarchs 18-15 as a whole, and peppered 10 shots at ODU keeper Victor Francoz. Althoug he came up with nine saves, the Dragons kept applying the pressure until the very end, forcing four of those saves in the extra sessions.
Drexel Athletics
PHILADELPHIA - Maybe double overtime is the Drexel men's soccer team's time. For the second time this season, the Dragons earned a Colonial Athletic Association victory in the game's 108th minute, this time 2-1 over VCU when Tal Bublil finished off a strong throw-in from Robert Liberatore and a header touch pass from Ken Tribbett. Drexel had trailed 1-0 in the second half of the contest before coming from behind to force the extra time, and won despite playing a man down for much of the second overtime after Brandon Zeller was booked for his second yellow card of the game late in the contest.
The goal was the first of Bublil's collegiate career.
Drexel Athletics
ATLANTA - Ken Tribbett scored his team-leading third goal of the season and Drexel held a 2-1 lead at Georgia State midway through the second half, but the host Panthers came up with three late goals to earn a pivotal 4-2 victory in conference action on Sunday. With the score tied late in the game, Georgia State scored two goals within 20 seconds of each other in the 85th minute of the game to grab the victory.
Drexel rebounded after giving up a quick goal, as Ayokunle Lumpkin headed in the Panthers' first goal in the third minute of the game. Three minutes and one second later, it was Tribbett who drilled the ball into the back of the net on a header, knotting the score at one thanks to an assist from Brandon Zeller.
Drexel Athletics
PHILADELPHIA - In recent years, the matchup between Drexel and Towson has produced some shootouts, including last season's 4-3 Dragon victory. This year, it was the Drexel defense which stepped up and earned its second shutout of the week as Drexel earned its first Colonial Athletic Association victory of the season, 2-0 over the Towson Tigers at Vidas Field on Saturday. Ken Tribbett scored on a penalty kick less than five minutes into the game, and Mark Donohue added a goal in the 84th minute.
With the game just getting underway, Manuel Cazares made some room for himself near midfield and fed the ball into the box, where Malcolm LeBourne picked it up. Just as he gained control in the box, he was taken down by a hard tackle, and a foul was called on Towson. That led to a penalty shot, which Ken Tribbett took. Immediately after the whistle blew, he did not give Towson keeper John Steele a chance to get set as he slotted the ball into the lower right corner of the net, converting the shot to give Drexel a 1-0 lead.
Drexel Athletics
FAIRFAX, Va. - Pentti Pussinen had six saves, including a big stop with less than two minutes remaining in the second overtime period, and the Drexel Dragons earned a scoreless draw in their second CAA road contest of the season. The Dragons took 12 shots in the contest, but got just two on goal, both of which came in the second half of regulation.
The Dragons (1-7-2, 0-2-1) earned their second scoreless draw of the season. Pussinen, who came into the game with a 1.41 goals against average, came up with two big stops that preserved the tie late in the game. First, in the 84th minute, Pussinen denied Leo Stoltz with time winding down in regulation and the Patriots threatening. Mason kept up the pressure with two more shots before the end of the second half, but could not get either on goal.
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WILMINGTON, N.C. - The Drexel men's soccer team played its first road Colonial Athletic Association contest on Saturday night at UNC-Wilmington, fallin to the Seahawks 2-0. Both Wilmington goals came in the second half after the Dragons could not capitalize on chances in the first stanza.
The Dragons controlled play early on, getting off four shots in the first half compared to just three for UNC-Wilmington. Michele Pataia fired one on Wilmington goalkeeper Brandon Miller in the game's tenth minute, but Miller made the save. The Dragons would get off two more shots in the next eight minutes, although neither made its way into Miller.
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PHILADELPHIA - The Drexel men's soccer team came out aggressive in its conference opener against William & Mary, pushing the ball into the offensive end to create opportunities and coming up with a season-high 19 shots. The results were no different, however, as the Dragons were shut out for a sixth time in seven games this season, falling to the Tribe, 2-0. Pentti Pussinen saved five of the seven shots that came his way for Drexel. Brandon Zeller led the team with four shots.
The Dragons came out of the gates firing, getting off 10 shots in the opening half, four of which went on goal. Early on, Jonathan Volpatti had a good look at the right side of the Tribe goal, but their keeper dove to his left to deflect Volpatti's shot and keep the scoreboard clean.
