Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/23/17
From Press Release
Cole Shafer scored six goals and Jimmy Joe Granito made 18 saves Saturday as Drexel downed Delaware, 14-9, on Senior Day at Vidas Field. With the win, the Dragons clinched a berth in the upcoming CAA Championships, which begin on May 4. The Dragons are now 3-1 in CAA play and 6-6 overall. The Blue Hens fell to 7-7 and 0-4.
The Dragons, who wore throw back Drexel Tech uniforms as part of the Drexel Lacrosse 75th Anniversary celebration, scored the first four goals of the game and never trailed in the contest. Shafer stated the scoring at the 8:13 of the first quarter. The Dragons swung the ball around the perimeter quick. Joe Rainoldi hit Marshal King, who found Shafer on the left side. Less than a minute later, Jake O’Donnell came from behind the net and scored at the crease.
Will Manganiello (Penncrest) and Michael Meurer added scores before Joe Eisele (St. Augustine Prep) put the Hens on the board late in the quarter, making it 4-1. Meurer, a defenseman, caused a turnover, picked up a ground ball and went down the field and beat Matt DeLuca.
In the second quarter, the Hens cut the lead to 5-3. It was as close as they would get. Robert Frazee scored on the man-up midway through the second, but Delaware answered with goals from Will Hirschmann and Eisele. Rainoldi’s left-handed shot on the run increased the Dragons lead to three and exactly a minute later, O’Donnell scored his second of the day in a similar fashion as his first. Steve DeLargy (four goals) ended the first half scoring, making it 7-4 at intermission in favor of the Dragons.
The teams swapped goals early in the third. Shafer, who had five of his goals in the second half, scored for DU, while DeLargy had his second of the day for Delaware. The Dragons took control for good, scoring five of the next six goals, to take a 13-6 lead. Shafer had three of those, including a highlight-film, behind the back score off a feed from O’Donnell. Delaware tried to battle back and scored three times in a span of three and a half minutes before Shafer capped the scoring with his career-high sixth goal into an empty net.
Jake Hervada (Haverford School) won 13 of 19 face offs for the Hens.
Granito, last week’s Player of the Week in the CAA, turned aside a career-high 19 shots in the win. When Granito was out with a penalty, freshman John Roulston was pressed into duty and came up big. The Dragons were down two men and Roulston made three saves, all at point-blank range. The keepers were a big reason the Dragons defeated their arch-rivals for the sixth straight season. Delaware fired 53 shots, compared to just 35 for Drexel, but were only able to score nine times.
With his six-goal performance on Senior Day, Shafer now has 117 career goals. He moved into a tie for 11th place on the school’s career scoring list. O’Donnell recorded his first career hat trick in the game and tied his career-high with four points. Frazee, known more for his scoring, handed out three assists. Freshman Reid Bowering had a goal and two assists.
Delaware was led by DeLargy’s four goals. Eisele had two goals, while Hirschmann and Romagnoli each had three points. The Hens won 17 of 27 face-offs. Jake Hervada was 13-for-19 and had five ground balls.
Drexel will close the regular season next Friday at UMass, while Delaware, which was eliminated from CAA play, will close the season at Fairfield.