Philadelphia, Pa.-Five Drexel players had at least two goals as the Dragons defeated Lehigh, 13-7, on a rainy afternoon at Vidas Field in West Philadelphia. Andrew Chapman scored three times for the Dragons, now ranked 15th in the nation, who improved to 2-1 on the season.

The Dragons broke a 1-1 tie with three straight goals to end the first quarter and take the lead for good. Jon Van Houten started the run and soon after Colin Ambler and Chapman scored to make it 4-1. Lehigh (1-2) was unable to get closer than two goals the rest of the way.

Drexel led 5-2 at the half and scored the first goal of the second half to go up by four. However, the Mountain Hawks' Richard Bradley and Matt Diehl scored goals within 20 seconds to cut the lead back to two goals at 6-4. The Dragons responded by scoring seven of the next eight goals to put the game out of reach.

Chris O'Connor, Adam Dennis, Kevin Dart, Ambler and Van Houten each had two goals for the Dragons. Ambler also picked up a pair of assists. The Dragons dominated the face-off battles, winning 17 of the 23 draws. Zak Fisher was 10-for-13 with nine ground balls and Nick Kusturiss won all six of his face-offs. Bruce Bickford made nine saves for Drexel before Andy Blahut took over in the final four minutes.

Max Dahlem had three goals for Lehigh. Ricky Cornetta had a goal and an assist. Eric Spirko made six saves in the cage.

The Dragons return to action on Saturday with a road game at Binghamton.

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PHILADELPHIA – Lehigh hung tough with No. 16 Drexel on Tuesday afternoon but in the end the Dragons were able to pull out a 13-7 victory. Max Dahlem led the way for the Mountain Hawks with three goals, while Andrew Chapman scored three goals of his own for the Dragons. With the loss Lehigh falls to 1-2 overall, while Drexel improves to 2-1.

Drexel out shot the Mountain Hawks 30-26 for the game, with Chapman leading the way with three shots, and Dahlem unleashed seven for Lehigh. Richard Bradley scooped up a team-high seven ground balls for the Brown White, while Zak Fisher recorded nine for the Dragons. Lehigh struggled with its face offs, winning just 6-of-23, but the Mountain Hawks were 20-of-25 on clear attempts.

Adam Dennis got the day started for Drexel with a goal at the 14:01 mark to put the home team up 1-0. Dahlem answered back with his first score at the 8:15 mark of the first, but the Dragons netted the game's next three scores to take a 4-1 lead with 3:02 to go in the opening quarter.

Dustin Clark took a feed from Fred Cassilly and cut Drexel's lead in half with a score of his own, but again Drexel answered as Jon Van Houten netted a goal with 6:55 to go. That made the score 5-2 in favor of Drexel, which is how the game would remain heading into halftime.

Chapman opened the third quarter with his second score of the afternoon, but Bradley and Matt Diehl responded with back-to-back goals for the Mountain Hawks, which made the score 6-4 in favor of Drexel with 11:18 left in the quarter. The Dragons came back with three straight scores and went in front 9-4 as the teams entered the final quarter of play.

Dahlem netted his second score of the day to make it a 9-5 game with 14:21 remaining, but Drexel added four consecutive goals to go in front 13-5 at the 6:52 mark of the final quarter. Ricky Cornetta and Dahlem added late goals for the Brown and White, but the Mountain Hawks would get no closer. Dahlem's last goal was a man-up score and was assisted by Cornetta.

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2008-02-26