No. 11 Drexel finally falls at home
Mike Sipos
Issue date: 10/9/09 Section: Sports
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VCU fell victim to the 11th-ranked Dragons' blazing offense and home-field domination Oct. 2. Going into the second period of play, the score was knotted at one apiece until the Dragons blew the Rams away with three unanswered goals on the way to a 4-1 victory.
The two top goal scorers on the team, forwards Susan Ciufo and Christina Mastropaolo, each scored two goals in the contest against the Rams as both players appear to be unstoppable offensively no matter what team they are facing.
"I think that our team is a great team and with everyone behind me, I don't look at who were playing," Mastropaolo said. "It's not like 'Oh, we're playing JMU today, can't score against JMU.' It doesn't matter what the name on their jersey is."
Coming out of the important win over the Rams, the Dragons (9-2, 2-1 CAA) fell for the first time at home this season to the 15th-ranked James Madison in a close 3-2 loss Oct. 4.
"Our game plan wasn't any different than any of our other games," head coach Denise Zelenak said. "We kind of set up our pregame to go over our breakdowns for the other team and to just take it to them."
But it was the Dukes taking it to the Dragons in the first period by scoring the first two goals of the game. The Dragons entered the locker room at half without any goals on the board and their streak of 14 straight home victories on the line, but a two-goal lead against the Dragons is never safe, as Zelenak knows what her team is capable of.
"The way we play, two goals is not ridiculous for us to come back from and we created a lot of opportunities," Zelenak said.
The Dragons cut the score in half at the beginning of the second period when Mastropaolo scored her 14th goal of the season. But when things just started looking up for the Dragons, the Dukes capitalized on a penalty stroke to take a two-goal advantage once again.
With less than 12 minutes remaining, midfielder Jordan Freese scored a goal to give the Dragons hope at a comeback, but when the game clock ran out, and it was the Dukes leaving Buckley Field with a one-goal. The loss also knocked the Dragons down in the rankings as they went from 11 to 15.
"I would say it was not a traditional game for us," Zelenak said. "I don't think we kept the flow like we usually do consistently through the team, but we did create opportunities offensively to tie up that game and I don't think we ever let down regardless of however many goals they had."
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