Spring Break
Men's lax falls short in loss to Penn
Mike Mazzeo
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Sports
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Trailing by one to Penn with 39 seconds remaining, Drexel finally gained possession of the ball and attempted to matriculate the ball up the field in a last-ditch effort to tie the game.
However, just 15 seconds later as the Dragons were attempting to cross the mid-line, they were whistled for offsides and the Quakers took over, ran out the clock and hung on for a 9-8 win Feb. 21 at Vidas Field.
"It's not anyone person's responsibility - it's everybody's responsibility," Bates said of his team failing to stay onside. "I'm disappointed. But one play in the game we had a chance to come back and make a push to tie the game late. But we put ourselves in a hole and we shouldn't have. But that's a team communication mistake."
Scott Perri, Colin Ambler and Kyle Bergman each netted a pair of goals in a losing cause for Drexel (0-2), which couldn't overcome a slow start despite a furious comeback attempt with just under 10 minutes left.
The Dragons trailed 9-6 but rallied back behind Ambler.
The junior attackman, who had failed to score in Drexel's season-opening defeat at No. 2 Virginia, got his first of the season at the 8:07 mark of the fourth quarter when he eased the ball into an open net off a feed from Dana Wilber with Penn goalie Greg Murray out of position to cut the lead to two.
Ambler followed five minutes, 10 seconds later with a man-advantage goal to get the Dragons within one, as his nifty underhand shot from a sharp angle bounced inside the right post.
But it was too little, too late for Drexel as Penn won the ensuing face-off and held onto the ball - and the win.
"We can score goals," Bates said. "I've been disappointed the first couple games, because I think we can pose some problems - some match-up problems - but we just haven't gotten into a rhythm offensively. We haven't shared the ball real well, and frankly we haven't shot the ball very well. It's a simple game, but if you're not shooting the ball well and it's not going into the back of the net you're not gonna win games."
The Quakers came out of the gate on fire, netting three goals in the first quarter and one just 41 seconds into the second as they grabbed an early 4-0 lead.
However, the Dragons countered with three straight of their own - the final by Perri at the 2:16 mark - to trail by just one heading into halftime.
"I thought we played pretty good lacrosse at points, but you can't spot a team four goals and then give up some cheapies along the way," Bates said. "To be a playoff team, you can't do those things."
The Quakers scored the first two goals of the third quarter and were able to keep Drexel at a distance. The Dragons never got within one until there was just 2:57 remaining.
"We needed to pay attention to the details and the little things," Bates said. "Right now we talk the talk, but I'm not sure we focus on the details and are doing all the things we need to do to win games. It's simple. We've got guys that can play; this team has talent. It's just a matter of buying into the big picture and playing Drexel team lacrosse."
Al Kohart, Alex Weber and Garvey Heiderman each scored two goals for Penn (1-0).
Mark Manos, starting in his second career game in net, made 12 saves for the Dragons. Murray had 11 for the Quakers.
Drexel was outshot 37-29 and won just 9-of-21 face-offs, which is out of character for the team. The Dragons were also only 1-of-4 on the man-advantage.
Jon Van Houten and Kevin Stockel had the other Drexel tallies.
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