Jules Raucci looks for a teammate during the Dragons’ NCAA tournament game against University of Denver. (Ken Chaney – The Triangle)

Last season, the Drexel University men’s lacrosse team started off with a loss to the University of Virginia Cavaliers.

They then went on to win the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. They made it to the NCAA Tournament and they won their first NCAA Tournament game.

A little under a year after last season’s opening loss, the Dragons started their journey towards a repeat on a snow-powdered field in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Dragons ran out onto that snowy field filled to the brim with excitement and hope about a new season, filled with possibility.

In the first quarter that was apparent, as they seemed extraordinarily inspired by last season’s run of success.

In the first ten minutes of the contest, the Dragons pulled out to a 3-0 lead, following unassisted goals by Jules Raucci, Ryan Belka and Mason Pynn.

At around the four-minute mark of the first quarter, that momentum slowed.

A Tyler German goal for UVA with 3:47 remaining cut the lead to two. Virginia’s Greg Coholan followed up less than a minute later with a goal of his own, and the Dragons were only up by one.

The Dragons and Cavaliers would split goals to end the quarter, and the Dragons headed into the second quarter maintaining a one-goal advantage.

The second quarter would spell disaster for the Dragons. Virginia came out and scored two quick goals courtesy of German and Ryan Tucker and the Dragons’ slide began.

They weren’t able to get on the board in the second until the 5:19 mark, when Cole Shafer netted a goal on a man-up situation.

The second quarter gave the Cavaliers an 8-6 halftime advantage.

The second half didn’t give the Dragons any relief, as the Cavaliers came out with three straight goals to pull out to a five-goal lead, and Dragons wouldn’t be able to overcome the deficit.

Despite a late run with two goals in the fourth, the Dragons fell by a score of 14-10.

The top performers for the Dragons in the game were junior midfielder Raucci and senior midfielder Belka, who scored two goals each in the losing effort.

Also notable was Will Gabrielsen’s performance.

Not that he did anything particularly incredible stats-wise, but the fact that he was playing might be very important for the team going forward.

Last year, Gabrielsen and fellow junior Cal Winkelman competed on a game-to-game basis for playing time.

As the year went on, Gabrielsen stepped into the limelight as head coach Brian Voelker’s go-to goalie, especially in postseason play.

His start in the season opener could very well mean that the job is now his, or at least his to lose.

A major issue this season could be getting the team to mesh together and succeed offensively since they’re now missing graduated seniors Ben McIntosh, Jared Boudreau and Nick Trizano.

McIntosh, in particular, is a huge piece to replace. He scored 48 goals for the team in 18 games last year and has now taken his talents to the Edmonton Rush in the National Lacrosse League.

McIntosh was a huge piece to the Dragons’ dominant puzzle last year, and the Dragons will struggle to replace his offensive output and locker room leadership.

A possible emerging piece to that puzzle could be freshman midfielder Michael Kay. In his first college performance, Kay scored his first career goal in the first period and also had two assists. His accomplishments against UVA earned him CAA Rookie of the Week honors.

If he can be consistent contributor to the offense, the Dragons could be on a great track to repeat their success from last year.

Defensively, the Dragons will be without graduated Matt Dusek, and his loss could be problematic, since he was a captain last season on that end of the field and helped the Dragons bolster the defense as competition stiffened as the season went on.

Even with the loss of Dusek, the Dragons could benefit defensively from goalie consistency, so if Gabrielsen is a mainstay in goal, the Dragons could rally around that and tighten-up defensively.

With all of these potential questions and the lofty expectations for the team, only time will tell whether a repeat postseason is in the cards.

Moving forward, the Dragons, ranked No. 19 in the nation following the loss, face off against the University at Albany at Vidas Field Feb. 21 at 3 p.m.

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Damion Lee takes a shot during the Dragons’ early season game against Saint Joseph’s University. (Ken Chaney – The Triangle)

Earlier this season, after a close loss to Saint Joseph’s University, junior Damion Lee was clear about his feelings following a great individual performance.

“It’s cool to score the ball and I know that’s my job on this team, I have to come ready every night and be an aggressive player and look to score the ball for us to win, that’s not the issue. The issue is that we didn’t win,” he said.

Lee finished that game with 23 points, but that wasn’t important to him. He wanted the win.

Against Cornell University Nov. 23, he refused to let his performance stand alone, and he refused to let his team lose.

By the end of the game, Lee had tallied 28 points and the Dragons had captured their first victory of the season, but it certainly didn’t look great early on.

Actually, “didn’t look great” is putting it gently. In the first half, they had 17 points and their leading scorer was Rodney Williams with seven points on 2-8 shooting.

Lee had amassed a whopping four points on 1-8 shooting and it looked like the Dragons were in for yet another long night.

Then halftime came, and the Dragons once again showed that they have the ability to play well for halves of games at a time.

All of the sudden, everything was working for the Dragons. They scored 44 second-half points behind the incredible performance of Lee, who scored 24 in the half on 50 percent shooting and also assisted on three scores.

Lee was a force, unstoppable when he had the ball in his hands, as he’s shown an ability to be throughout the season so far.

Without Lee, the Dragons would be 0-5 on the season, but he showed up, and showed up big time.

Other notables

Freshman guard Rashann London turned in a solid performance, with nine points (which makes him tied for second-highest points on the team) and only three turnovers.

Sophomore forward Rodney Williams continued his early struggles, making only two of his nine shots from the floor, though he did score nine points in the game.

Senior guard Freddie Wilson turned in a somewhat strange game; playing for 25 minutes and recording nearly zero remarkable statistics. He was pretty much a nonfactor, scoring two points to go with one assist and one steal. That’s an uneventful line from a guy who played more than half of the game.

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Freshman Megan Marecic takes a leaning jumpshot during the Drexel University women’s basketball team’s season opener at home against Cornell University. (Photo Courtesy – DrexelDragons.com)

At the beginning of the Drexel University women’s basketball matchup against Princeton University Nov. 19, it looked like the Dragons would be able to run away with a win and a 2-0 start to their season. And then it didn’t anymore.

The Dragons stormed out to a 9-2 and then a 13-6 lead early in the first, but that wouldn’t last.

Some defensive lapses and stagnant offensive play allowed the Tigers to claw their way back into it, tying the game at 15. From there, the Dragons were outscored 15-7 and Princeton took a 30-22 lead into halftime.

Notably from the first half, the Dragons were hanging in the game mostly on the performance of junior guard Rachel Pearson. She was 4-7 in the half, including shooting 2-4 from three for 10 total points in the half.

Another junior guard would have a less favorable time against the Tiger defense.

Meghan Creighton finished the half 0-2 with zero points and an assist. Creighton struggled to get going against the strong Princeton defense and it showed in the fact that she struggled to even get shots up, let alone make them.

Meanwhile, sophomore forward Sarah Curran, usually a dependable source of points for the team, was held scoreless in the half, missing all five of her shots.

Curran and Creighton are a huge part of the offense for this team, a team trying to replace the offense generated by graduate Fiona Flanagan, and even with a big showing from Pearson, a bad first half by those two tanked the team’s chances in this game.

The start of the second half followed along the lines of the end of the first half.

Princeton came out of the locker room in form, going on an 8-2 run, making the lead 38-24.

From there, the floodgates opened.

The Tigers’ lead was never in jeopardy, and they led by as many as 20 points in the second half.

In the second half, Curran managed to get on the board, but Pearson and the rest of the team went completely cold to the tune of a nearly 30 percent shooting percentage in the half, including 18.2 percent from three.

The Dragons lost the game by 16, with a final score of 59-43.

The story of the game was Princeton’s interior defense against the quick guards for the Dragons. They were able to fully contain the Drexel offense and it mostly showed in the second half. They forced 12 turnovers in the second half alone and 21 total in the game.

Princeton also absolutely dominated on the boards, with 43 to the Dragons’ 29. Of those, the Tigers managed to scoop up 17 very important offensive rebounds, more than double the amount that Drexel grabbed.

Offensive rebounds are an especially important figure to work towards, as they give the offense another chance where otherwise the possession would have ended. Princeton doubled the Drexel output on the boards, and it cost the Dragons big time.

For the team, this loss doesn’t mean very much. Games don’t matter until conference play starts and Princeton is very good, sitting at a 3-0 record right now.

Going forward, it’s going to be important to see how the team responds. They need to make sure they don’t get into a habit of turning the ball over and can handle tough defenses, because they’ll be facing them throughout conference play.

Their next game will be a good indicator of the track the Dragons will be on offensively, and it will be important to get Curran going early if they want to succeed.

The Dragons will be back at home looking to get back on track Nov. 22 against Colgate University at 2 p.m.

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Guard Damion Lee sizes up a defender against St. Joe’s Nov. 17. (Ken Chaney – The Triangle)

The old saying goes, “defense wins championships.” Not quite.

If there’s anything the early season performance of the Drexel University men’s basketball team shows, it’s that basketball is a two-way game.

Experts, players and fans alike differ in their preference between offense and defense, but it doesn’t really matter. You cannot consistently succeed without a healthy helping of both. For these Dragons, as has been the case for recent Dragons teams, offense is the problem.

In three games, the Dragons have scored 48, 49 and 46 points. Their defense has been okay but their offense has fully let them down.

Against the University of Miami Nov. 20 at the Charleston Classic, that was again on full display.

The storylines from the first two games continued to be a problem, as the Dragons once again missed easy shots and were plagued by turnovers.

The biggest problem? Playing against good teams with basically only one viable scoring option.

Damion Lee, who became the 34th player in Drexel history to score 1000 points in his career during the game against Miami, continues to be the only player capable of scoring for the Dragons.

He only had nine points in the game, but considering the performances of his teammates, he looked great.

Tavon Allen in particular has been dreadful this year. He scored 13 points in the game, which sounds great, but he did it with a 4-17 shooting performance, good for 23.5 percent.

Allen was also a notable problem during the Dragons’ matchup with Saint Joseph’s University Nov. 17, where he was 1-8 for three points and had six turnovers. His six turnovers were almost half of the team’s total for that game.

Another player who’s proving unable to contribute in a meaningful way is sophomore forward Rodney Williams. Playing particularly in the painted area, where shooting percentages are usually very high due to the proximity to the basket, Williams turned in yet another sub-35-percent shooting night.

Against Miami, Williams turned in an awful 1-8 shooting performance, scoring only three points as the team’s main interior threat.

The biggest problem for the team comes down to a lack of production from the big men. The team lost senior forward Kazembe Abif to a torn anterior cruciate ligament for the year, and he was expected to be their go-to big man.

Without Abif, Williams has been thrust into the spotlight following his successful freshman season and was expected to take a step forward but instead has mostly regressed. This season, Williams is shooting less than 30 percent and is averaging 5.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Combining the Dragons’ inability to shoot consistently from the floor with a lack of interior scoring is a recipe for disaster on the offensive end, especially because they have no reliable scoring threats not named “Lee.”

On the game, the Dragons shot an awful 31.4 percent, including 30 percent on three-pointers, but they took 20 in the game. There’s no point in taking such a high volume of threes if the team can’t make them at a high percentage.

For opposing defenses, all they have to do is stop Williams from dunking and double cover Lee and the Dragons are basically unable to score. That isn’t a difficult strategy, and it has worked well for the three teams the Dragons have faced this season.

Head coach James “Bruiser” Flint summed up this problem to reporters in his post-game press conference.

“We need our big guys to make plays or our guards are going to have guys draped all over them all night,” Flint said. “It wasn’t like we didn’t give them the ball in good position, they just aren’t finishing.”

The Dragons will try to lick their wounds and move on against the University of Southern California Friday, Nov. 21.

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Rodney Williams will have to be a difference maker for the Dragons to succeed without Austin Williams. (Ken Chaney – The Triangle)

The inactive list grows.

Austin Williams, freshman forward, has a left foot injury that will keep him from suiting up for the next six to eight weeks.

The injury occurred during practice before the Dragons’ homecoming against Saint Joseph’s University, but the severity of the injury wasn’t known until today, Nov. 19.

Without Williams healthy and with the preseason loss of Kazembe Abif, the Dragons are relying even more than before on the play of Rodney Williams. Williams, their sophomore leader who while possessing gifted moves in the post, has trouble scoring when he gets chances close to the rim.

The injury will also mean more minutes for transfer Sooren Derboghosian, who played 16 minutes against St. Joe’s and scored three points. Also look out for sophomore Mohamed Bah to make an impact, as he did against St. Joes, notching six points, four rebounds and three blocks.

The earliest Williams can return, according to a six-to-eight-week timetable, is Jan. 3 against Elon University, the team’s first conference game.

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Rodney Williams dunks over a Saint Joseph’s University defender during their Nov. 17 contest. (Ken Chaney – The Triangle)

The DAC pack made a special sign for the Dragon’s home opener Nov. 17 against Saint Joseph’s University.

On it, seven words summed up the atmosphere surrounding the game: “New DAC, New Damion, same Drexel Pride.”

The DAC pack was jumping, Damion Lee was back at home for the first time in 20 months and the stage was set for a battle.

The DAC Pack

There wasn’t an empty seat in the house. Last season, home games for the Dragons had notably less energy and had maybe half of the showing that this game drew.

The entire first half, the DAC was booming with energy, so much so that both teams fed off of it.

It seemed to particularly influence the Drexel offense, as they had a few riotous dunks including a ridiculous jam over a defender by Rodney Williams in the first half.

The return of Damion

From the tip, “new Damion” looked very much like pre-ACL tear Damion. He looked virtually unstoppable off of the dribble and commanded the ball (and double teams) on offense.

At one point in the first half, Lee hit a fairly contested three pointer and turned to the DAC pack and quickly raised his arms, and the crowd lost their minds.

He hit five of his first 10 shots before going fairly cold in the second half, finishing the game 6-18 from the field with 23 points. The percentage associated with a 6-18 performance might not look good on paper, but it’s underselling what was one of the best performances by a Dragon in the DAC in recent history.

Throughout the second half, Damion kept the team in it with his offense even though he was the only one able to create his own shot and finish it all night. He was double teamed all night and worked through it to the tune of 13 second half points.

He ended his night taking a lengthy three pointer that fell short of the rim with two seconds remaining, sealing the victory for the Hawks, 52-49.

Damion felt great being back at home and about his performance, but it was missing the most important thing.

“It was cool playing at home being that I haven’t played there in 20 months. The points don’t really matter because we didn’t win. It’s cool to score the ball and I know that’s my job on this team, I have to come ready every night and be an aggressive player and look to score the ball for us to win, that’s not the issue. The issue is that we didn’t win.”

Can’t take the heat?

St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli cued up an all-game full court pressure on the Dragons, and it seemed to give them fits at times.

Specifically, it was tough for freshman guard Rashann London to handle, as he’s a bit too small to fight through double teams, and it caused him to turn the ball over two times in the first half. In the second half, he seemed to settle in and St. Joe’s seemed to get a bit more tired and backed off on the press, and he was able to score six points with zero turnovers.

Coach James “Bruiser” Flint thought Rashann played well in the game compared to the opener at Colorado and that’s how he wants him to play this year.

“I’m not worried about him scoring baskets, I need him to not turn it over and play defense, that’s his job. He’s been fine, I need him to be more intense on [defense].”

Martelli’s defense hedged on screens very far, coming out almost to half court on some screens to cut off the ball handler. The purpose of this motion is to disrupt screens taking place at the three-point line and force the player using the screen to go back the way they came from.

It worked like a charm. Countless Damion Lee screens were completely cut down by the pressure and it completely disrupted the Dragons’ ability to move the ball at points in the game.

Close misses

More than anything in the game, close misses cost the Dragons.

Most notably, sophomore big man Rodney Williams had a rough night down low for the Dragons. He has all of the moves of an impact big, but just cannot make shots from close range. He went 3-9 on the game for six points, but if he had been able to make even half of his close shots, as he will surely be expected to do as his Dragons career goes on, he could have made a real difference in the game.

Flint noted the close misses specifically as a reason for the loss.

“We have to finish plays. We can’t keep going into games and missing every lay-up. We’re getting them, that’s the crazy thing. We’re getting great looks and guys have to be stronger.”

Going forward

The Dragons continue their pre-conference play slate against the University of Miami in the Charleston Classic Nov. 20.

The Hurricanes are 2-0 coming off of a huge win against the University of Florida Gators and will surely pose a challenge to the young Dragons and great opportunity to turn things around.

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Michele Pataia dribbles up field during the Dragons’ matchup with the University of Delaware Oct. 29. The Dragons lost 4-0 in the game and then ended their season 3 days later against the University of North Carolina at Wilmington at home, where they lost 3-0. The team ended its disappointing season with a 5-10-3 record. (Photo Courtesy – DrexelDragons.com)

Senior Day for the Drexel University men’s soccer team ended as a microcosm of their season as a whole: offensively lacking and filled with missed opportunities.

Though the Dragons were already eliminated from postseason contention, they had the chance to end their season on a positive note and give the departing seniors and young guys something to look to going forward. This was especially important on the team’s Senior Day, with parents out to support the seniors and hoping to witness a victorious send-off.

Maybe it was fatigue, maybe a lack of focus, maybe they were just generally outplayed, but the team didn’t garner much positivity with their performance at home against the University of North Carolina at Wilmington Nov. 1.

As is the theme of this year’s edition of Dragons soccer, they started off the game looking confident and strong, and had a few offensive chances but were unable to finish any of them.

Then things quickly fell apart.

In the 25th minute, the Dragons allowed UNCW’s Jamie Dell to score off a cross from Colin Bonner to give the visiting team a 1-0 lead.

Throughout the year, the team as whole has been downright anemic offensively, but they’re never worse than when they give up an early goal.

They start forcing the issue, and all season that’s allowed the opposing team to take advantage of a spread out defense, and that would again be the case against UNCW.

Though the Dragons were able to hold the fort going into halftime, soon after the second half began, UNCW struck again.

The same duo for the Seahawks would do it again, as Bonner found Dell breaking away down the field, the latter would score the easy one-on-one goal.

With the 2-0 lead, the Dragons were basically done for. Again, they continued to have chances near the goal, shooting nine times in the game, but only a single shot even challenged UNCW goalkeeper Sam Williams, who recorded a clean sheet in the game.

With the game already basically decided, the final dagger in the Dragons’ nightmarish season came in the 74th minute, when Daniel Escobar crossed to an open Jack Ward, who found space at the far post to bring the score to 3-0.

And with that, the season was over. Nearly 20 minutes remained on the clock, but the outcome was decided and the minutes drained away without much fight from either side.

Head coach Doug Hess summarized his feelings on the disappointing season.

“It didn’t go well. It’s a season on underachieving. Zero postseason play, and we’ve set a standard now of postseason play. From that regard, [this season is an] underachievement. It was kind of two seasons, looking at the first half, we were 4-4-2 through 10 games and had only conceded seven goals. The second half was conference play and we gave up 18 goals in eight games, you can’t win that way. We didn’t take a single point in any of our last four games and we scored one goal total. It was a disappointing season to say the least because I think we were capable of more,” he said.

Now, this season was always supposed to be a tougher one than last year. The Dragons lost some big pieces from last season’s Colonial Athletic Association champion team, including midfielders Ken Tribbett and Nathan Page and defender Tal Biblil.

Those are players that made a huge impact on last season’s team, especially Tribbett and Page, who were the top two goal scorers on the team. In fact, out of the top four goal scorers on the team last year, only one, senior John Grosh, didn’t graduate.

That’s a huge loss for the team and it probably made the difference in the whole season. This year, the Dragons only had three players score multiple goals, and no one scored more than two in the entire season.

Looking forward, the team will quite possibly have similar problems next season, as they’re again losing their top two scorers, Grosh and Michele Pataia. Without those two, younger players are going to have to step up big time to return this program to the heights it has risen to in the past.

The good news, while it might cause problems in the present, is that this team is very young overall and under the tutelage of Coach Hess could easily be a contender on the biggest stage, the NCAA tournament, going forward.

Also, the last time the Dragons ended a season 5-10-3? The 2011 season.

In 2012, they made the NCAA tournament.

Senior defender Maty Brennan goes up to defend an incoming University of Delaware header. Defense would end up being the undoing of the Dragons in the game, which they lost 4-0. (Ajon Brodie – The Triangle)

Everything has to come to an end eventually.

For the Drexel University men’s soccer team, the ending was as one-sided as it was crushing.

The game against the University of Delaware Oct. 29 was a must-win for the Dragons, a team that’s limped through conference play en route to a measly four points in the conference. To have any chance at making the postseason, the Dragons had to win out, and the first step in doing so was taking down a short-handed Delaware team.

When asked about how his team has ended up in this situation, coach Doug Hess keyed in on a single phase of the game.

“Scoring goals. The final ball. It’s either the final pass or the final strike at goal. The thing with scoring goals, you train movements to create chances. We spend a lot of time in training, training movements of the team and individual players and from there it’s about the individual quality on the final strike,” he said.

Hess felt confident about the Dragons’ chances in the first of their two must-win games, citing the fact that Delaware was missing a litany of key players coming into the game including a main piece of their offense, sophomore Guillermo Delgado. Delgado has 11 goals this season, and missed the match due to a red card in Delaware’s previous contest against the College of Charleston.

As it turned out, Delaware didn’t need Delgado and their offense functioned as well as ever at Vidas Field against the desperate Dragons.
The Dragons managed to keep the Blue Hens at bay for a significant portion of the first half, but in the 35th minute, the game — and the season — fell apart for the home team.

In a 16-second stretch, the Dragons watched as everything they’ve built for the last three months crumbled in front of them, as Delaware netted two goals.

For this Dragons team, needing to score two goals is a virtual death sentence. In the entire season, they’ve only scored two or more goals four times out of 17 games.

And that uphill battle got even worse for the team before halftime, as an Angus Maloney goal in the 42nd minute basically sealed the victory for the Blue Hens.

From there, the game played out like most games have for the Dragons this season. They got their chances, but were ultimately unable to capitalize, as they were held scoreless in the contest.

With an additional basically meaningless goal in the second half, Delaware pulled out to a four goal lead and held their ground, winning 4-0 when the buzzer mercifully sounded 35 minutes later.

And with that, a dominant force in Colonial Athletic Association play falls. The Dragons had made the NCAA tournament for two consecutive years coming into this one and looked poised to repeat that.

That is, until games started actually counting.

Before the start of conference play, the defensive side of the ball seemed particularly strong for the Dragons, as they held opponents to one or less goals in eight of their first 10 games.

If the Dragons could have just kept that together, with all of the chances their offense was generating, they were bound to find their rhythm and start scoring goals at some point in the season.

But sometimes sports don’t work the way anyone expects them to. The Dragons probably should have been able to put it together and win some games, but they weren’t.

They continued to struggle to score goals. The defense began to crumble. They just couldn’t get the results.

Even with their struggles, the Dragons had the chance to pull back into the top six of the conference, a mark that would have allowed them to reach the postseason, a level where they’ve thrived over the years. They were only a game out before this game and with a little bit of help from some CAA competition, could have snuck their way into the playoffs this season.

But that wasn’t how it happened. And a great run for the Drexel program is possibly over, but that doesn’t mean things are all bad.

For right now, it’s time to celebrate the nine seniors and look forward to watching the rest of this team grow in the next couple of seasons.

Incredibly, there are no juniors on the team. Besides the seniors, only freshmen and sophomores make up the rest of the squad and that’s an exciting prospect.

With that much youth comes inexperience, yes, but it also means that this team will grow together for the next two years and likely be a force when they come into their own.

And that’s truly something to look forward to.

The Dragons end their season against the University of North Carolina at Wilmington at Vidas Field Nov. 4 at 4 p.m.

Erik Alexandersson dribbles down the field during the Dragons’ Oct. 15 game against James Madison University. (Photo Courtesy – DrexelDragons.com)

Early in the season, Drexel University men’s soccer head coach Doug Hess summarized the game he loves and knows all too well in one sentence.

“Soccer, in general, rides on a knife’s edge.”

He’s correct, and soccer, more so than most sports, often comes down to a few breaks here and there. That’s what makes the game so exciting as a player or fan, but also what can make it so crushing.

The breaks just haven’t been there for the Dragons this year, and their record shows it. This week, they were outscored 4-1 combined in two conference losses, but the score doesn’t tell the true story.

The Dragons stood firmly in both of those games with a chance to escape with points and further their position in the conference standings, but they fell short. Call it luck, call it tough opposition, call it inexperience; whatever it is, it’s bad. And it could very easily keep them out of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, a place where they’ve thrived the last couple of years.

The Dragons traveled to Elon University Oct. 18 in an attempt to gain ground in a tight conference race. A victory would have pulled them into the top half of the conference and quite possibly turned around the season for the ailing Dragons, but they fell short.

In the game, the Dragons were fairly outmatched. They gave up two goals in the first 42 minutes of play and just weren’t able to get on the board, which has been a huge problem for the team this year.

And their lack of scoring wasn’t a result of a lack of effort. The Dragons tallied double digit shots in the game and Elon actually required more saves than the Dragons in the game. The biggest issue for the team is has been, and quite possibly will continue to be, finishing scoring chances.

They simply haven’t been able to do it this year, even when they get decent looks at the net. They’re averaging 10.4 shots per game this season, but have only been able to score a meager 0.94 goals per game. That’s obviously not a recipe for success.

It is important to note that Elon is a very talented team, good enough to be in second place in the conference this season and currently on a four-game win streak.

Maybe the Dragons just ran into a good team right as they were hitting their stride?

It’s possible, but the following game against conference-leading Hofstra University might have been the finishing blow to a shaky season.

Again, the Dragons got their chances on the offensive end.

In the first half alone, they had 10 shots and eight corner kicks to the Pride’s five and zero, respectively.

And the outcome? A halftime 1-1 draw.

Soccer does ride on a knife’s edge.

The Dragons gave up a goal in the 36th minute to Maid Memic off a pass from Joseph Holland, and they were down, despite their dominance in the half.

In fact, to even get a goal, the Dragons required a penalty kick. In the 43rd minute, John Grosh finished the penalty kick to tie the game right before half, and the game went into the halftime tied 1-1.

From there, it was all Hofstra. They turned the tables on the Dragons, taking 10 shots to the Dragons’ one in the second half.

But the difference in the game wasn’t just a goal, and it couldn’t have been any more debilitating for the already ailing Dragons.

In the 83rd minute, a Dragons penalty gave Memic the chance to give Hofstra the late lead on a penalty kick of his very own.

As it has gone for the Dragons for most of the season, Memic drained the penalty kick and the Dragons spoiled a chance to get at least one point and advance their conference position.

Over the two games — and the season, in fact — the Dragons had plenty of opportunities, but the story of the year has been how they’ve teetered on the knife’s edge and more often than not it has resulted in losses for them.

This isn’t the end of the season for the Dragons, as they have two more crucial CAA games coming up against the University of Delaware and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington that are basically must-wins.

They have to climb into the Top 6 six in the conference before the tournament starts and they’re currently sitting in eighth place out of nine teams. That sounds bleak, but they’re only three points away — the equivalent of one win-back of James Madison University and The College of William & Mary, who are tied for sixth place.

With a single win and a couple of fortuitous losses from other CAA teams, this squad could end up in the tournament fighting for a spot in the NCAA tournament, a spot that they’ve earned the last two years and hope to earn again.

The Dragons kick off that journey at Vidas Field Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.

Senior John Grosh charges up the field during an early season matchup against Princeton University. This week, John Grosh held the offense together, with a goal and an assist against College of Charleston and an another assist against James Madison University. (Ken Chaney – The Triangle)

“Once we’re back on track, we’ll be back to competing like we have the last few years.”

Sophomore goalie Tyler Afflerbach was optimistic about the Drexel University men’s soccer team’s future despite how rough the beginning to conference play was. After dropping their first two Colonial Athletic Association matchups by a combined score of 4-1, the talented young goalie wouldn’t have been at fault if he swayed towards a negative outlook for the season. But he remained optimistic — and he wasn’t wrong.

The Dragons needed some time to get back on track, and conference play has always been tough, but they seem to at least have recovered from the terrible 0-2 CAA record they came into the week with.

Looking to return to winning form, the Dragons hosted the College of Charleston Oct. 11 at Vidas Field.

The game didn’t look good from the get-go for the Dragons, as they allowed the Cougars to get on the board first courtesy of an Adan Noel goal following a Drexel defensive lapse.

The big difference between this game and earlier games for the Dragons was in the fact that they were able to strongly respond to a setback.

Less than 10 minutes later, senior John Grosh found fellow senior Robert Liberatore open off of a corner and Liberatore tapped the ball in to even the score at 1-1 before the end of the first half.

That’s huge.

For a team that has been plagued by a lack of scoring, being able to quickly respond to an early deficit is a must. It allows them to settle in and continue to play their game the way they want to, rather than forcing the issue on the offensive end while trying to equalize the game.

And that paid off for the Dragons early in the second half. In the 53rd minute, John Grosh made his presence felt once again. Sander Yu made a long pass in and John Grosh connected with it, draining the go-ahead goal.

The Dragons were riding high over that, and it threatened to cost them points.

By the 75th minute the Dragons seemed to settle into a more defensive formation, altering their balanced game in favor of trying to protect the lead they had earned. This sounds like a good idea, but often doing that allows a good team like Charleston to pressure until the defense is forced to break.

And the break was crushing.

The Dragons were less than 30 seconds from earning their first conference win when Adan Noel brought it even at 2-2 following a corner kick.

While upsetting, this game could have gotten much worse had the Dragons not kept their composure. But they kept their composure, holding up on the defensive end to earn one point for the tie, though they were crushingly close to a win and three points.

Afflerbach summarized his feelings on their performance thus far in conference play, once again taking an optimistic view on the whole situation.

“We’ve played well in pretty much every game, though we have had a few breakdowns defensively. We’ve all made a few mistakes here and there, but as a whole we’ve played well as a defensive unit and a team but we’re always working hard towards getting a little better.”

The Dragons would make up for the last minute disappointment in their Oct. 15 matchup against James Madison University.

Like before, the Dragons would fall behind early.

In the 64th minute, an unlucky rebound off of a blocked shot fell to Callum Hill, who rocketed it into the back of the net from 30 yards out.

Once again, the Dragons would respond quickly.

Inside of the box in the 68th minute, Guido Pena made a close cross to Adam Arana, who headed it goal wards to even the game at one.

From that point on, the game was virtually all Drexel. They tallied 10 shots in the second half alone, though they were only able to net one goal in regulation.

In overtime, they kept battling and it paid off in the 101st minute.

Erik Alexandersson drilled a loose ball from 15 yards out into the top corner of the net, ending the game and giving the Dragons their first conference win and a pivotal three points, giving them four total in the conference.

As of right now, the Dragons sit near the bottom of the CAA standings with four points, but only three points shy of newcomer Elon University.

And whom do the Dragons play this weekend? Elon University.

With a victory in that game, the Dragons can erase a lot of their woes from this season and once again see themselves near the top of the standings in a difficult conference.

The Dragons play at Elon on Oct. 18, looking to climb the leaderboard of the CAA.