Mens Lacrosse falls to Drexel in CAA semi-finals Penn State Mens lacrosse (9-6, 5-2 CAA) lost to the

Drexel Dragons (8-7, 5-2 CAA) Wednesday evening in an intense CAA semi-final match up. For the second year in a row, the Nittany Lions locked up the second seed in the CAA tournament, and were awarded a home game. Unfortunately, it was also the second year in a row Penn State has lost in the CAA semifinals. Just like their last match-up with the Dragons, Penn State started out with some sloppy play. After a Nittany Lion turnover on their first offensive possession, and two failed clears by sophomore netminder Austin Kaut, Drexel midfielder Ben McIntosh tallied the first goal of the game off a feed from T.J. Foley. On the ensuing possession, Shane Strugis drove hard from behind the goal and, backing down his defender, turned and fired a shot over his shoulder for Penn States first goal of the game. After a rough start, Austin Kaut locked in and made two saves on Drexels next possession to keep the game tied at one goal. Penn State would improve their lead after another great individual effort; this time by Tom LaCrosse. LaCrosse dodged down the left alley, cut underneath the defense to slip one past Drexel goalie Mark Manos on the doorstep. Just under a minute later, Strugis ripped an underhand shot that stung the top left corner for his second tally of the game. His goal gave Penn State a 3-1 lead heading into the second quarter. Gavin Ahern recorded the assist on the play. Off the faceoff win by Danny Henneghan, attackman Jack Forster spun and fed Nick Dolik for Penn States fourth goal in a row. The Nittany Lions would cool off however, as Drexel scored the next three goals in the game, starting with midfielder Kyle Bergman feeding Aaron Prosser, giving him a great shot opportunity on the run that beat Kaut. The next tally came off a left handed drive by Drexel attackman Brendan Glynn. With Nittany Lions still up 4-3, both Kaut and Manos made excellent saves to keep their teams in the game. Most notably, off a Forster shot, Manos was forced to lay on the ball after it almost trickled past his legs. After the clear by Drexel, freshman midfielder Ryan Belka scored his tenth goal of the season tying the game at four goals apiece. On the Lions extra man opportunity, freshman Pat Manley threw a nice fake that gave Gavin Ahern an open shot that he stuck low to give Penn State the one goal advantage. The teams would then trade goals back and forth until halftime as Robert Church used his instincts around the crease to scoop up a rebound and score the ball for his first goal of the game. Penn State responded after defenseman Jack Donnelly striped his man of the ball and passed to Forster who fired a shot that Manos fought off with his shoulder. Matthew Mackrides got the rebound, charged around the cage and fired a beautiful shot that beat Manos to the top left corner, making the score 6-5 Nittany Lions at the half. Austin Kaut turned away eleven shots in the first half. Penn States goalkeeper would not save any more shots the rest of the game as Drexel came out of halftime on a four goal tear. Drexels run started after Penn State won the opening draw but turned the ball over. Among the confusion, the Nittany Lion defense was unorganized giving Brendan Glynn the easy assist to

fellow attackman Andrew Vivian who was wide open. After a penalty on Nick Dolik, Drexel used the man up opportunity to take their first lead since the first quarter. Ben McIntosh drew the eyes of defense and then passed cross crease to a wide open Kyle Bergman for the goal. Ball watching continued to hurt the Nittany Lions defense as Drexel scored their next two goals off the same play. Andrew Vivian was the triggerman for these two scores as he fed both Kevin Stockel and Robert Church as they cut to the crease, burying a couple easy goals against Kaut. With score at 9-6 in favor of the Dragons, Nick Dolik momentarily stopped the bleeding by scoring twice in a row, giving himself a hat trick on the night. Robert Church would respond with a hat trick of his own, scoring his third off a pick play in which the Drexel attackman put a shot low and away from the Penn State netminder. Scratching and clawing their way back into a game they once led, Penn State would never recover from the run that Drexel had in the third quarter. Dolik and Mackrides scored on two highlight worthy outside shots that beat Manos high to tie the game at ten, but the Dragons would not be denied in the fourth quarter, as they responded to every Nittany Lion goal with one of their own. The final score from the Penn State Lacrosse field was 13-11 in favor of the Dragons. Although the Nittany Lions came back to beat Drexel in the regular season, the Dragons shined in the CAA tournament, upsetting the higher ranked Lions. Although Penn State received a lot of secondary scoring from Nick Dolik (4, 0) and Gavin Ahern (2, 2), Drexels defense shut down the Nittany Lions leading point scorer, Jack Forster, holding him to a single assist. Drexel also outshot the Lions and won the groundball battle. Faceoff specialist Danny Henneghan struggled on the night, only winning ten of his twenty eight draws, leading to extra possessions for the Dragons. This loss puts the Nittany Lions in a tough spot while trying to qualify for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Though they are speculated to be a bubble-in team at the moment, the Nittany Lions do not control their own destiny anymore in their quest to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. Their fate will be determined by the NCAA Lacrosse selection committee this Sunday. Julian Pritcher is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jsp5220@psu.edu