Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/5/16
From Press Release
Freshman Matthew Varian scored a goal as the horn sounded at the end of the fourth quarter to give Drexel a come-from-behind, 10-9, win at Saint Joseph’s on Saturday afternoon. The Dragons trailed by three goals in the fourth quarter, but scored the final four goals of the contest to pick up their first win of the season.
Saint Joseph’s (3-1) scored three straight goals to start the fourth quarter to take a 9-6 lead. The Dragons (1-3) started to chip away at the lead when Joseph Rainoldi scored an unassisted goal with 6:16 to play. Just 24 seconds later, Marshal King set up Varian to trim the deficit to just one goal.
The score remained 9-8 until Rainoldi tied it up with just 1:32 remaining in regulation. It was his third goal of the contest. The Hawks won the ensuing face-off, but Drexel forced a turnover and Miles Thomas (Conestoga, 3 GBs) made a nice play keeping the ball alive and Robert Frazee scooped up a big ground ball in traffic to give Drexel possession. Varian dodged to the front of the net and just beat the horn, giving Drexel the unlikely victory.
The game was tied at intermission before Drexel scored the first two goals of the third quarter to take a 6-4 lead. Will Manganiello (Penncrest) and Jacob O’Donnell recored the Drexel goals. However, the Hawks rattled off the next five goals to take the lead. Kevin Reidinger and Kevin Forster (La Salle) each scored in the third to tie it up. Chris Blewitt, Mike Rastivo and Hayes McGinley started the fourth with goals to put the Hawks in front.
Rainoldi led the Dragons by recording his first hat trick of the season. Varian, last week’s CAA Rookie of the Week, scored twice, while Robert Frazee had a goal and two assists. Blewitt finished the day with three goals for Saint Joseph’s. Mike Rastivo and Forster added each had a goal and two assists. Danny Manning won 18 of his 22 face-off attempts.
The Hawks outshot Drexel, 42-33, and had a 31-27 advantage in ground balls. Jimmy Joe Granito picked up the win in the cage for Drexel. The junior made 11 saves. T.J. Jones had nine stops for the Hawks.