The Triangle

Issue date: 5/16/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Karl Kuchs The men's lacrosse team had a historical season, winning a single-season record 13 games. Drexel's 24 wins are the most during a two-year span in program history. The Dragons had won 10 or more games three times in their 62-year history. However, they are still searching for their first berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Last week I wrote a commentary on how the book that was the 2008 men's lacrosse season ended all but too quickly.

Therefore, I won't recap the entire season.

However, here are a few items to note - mainly those from a historical and statistical standpoint, which I thought should be brought to your attention.

It wasn't me, it was you

Drexel's season might have ended, but CAA champion Hofstra was still alive until May 11.

The Pride lost their first-round game of the NCAA Tournament to fifth-seeded John's Hopkins 10-4.

And while Drexel likely would not have fared any better against the Blue Jays, one of the elite Division I collegiate lacrosse programs in the country, it would have been nice to be able to say "Drexel" and "NCAA Tournament" in the same sentence without the words "snubbed from" or "just misses" linking the two.

The last time the Dragons made the NCAA Tournament was when the heralded Malik Rose-led 1996 men's basketball team went on to upset Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Syracuse in round two.

Losing its stopper

If Drexel wishes to be among the elite lacrosse programs in the CAA, it'll have to do so without one of the best goalies in the nation, Bruce Bickford.

Bickford, who was named conference player of the year, is currently sixth in the nation with a 6.99 goals against average and fourth in the nation with a .629 save percentage (as of May 11).

His finest save of his four-year career came this season when he robbed Hofstra's Dan Stein on a breakaway to extend the first overtime against the Pride before fellow senior Andrew Chapman, who led the team with 39 goals, scored the game-winner in the second overtime.

Continued...

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