After success at the Kerr Cup Regatta April 20, the Drexel University men’s and women’s rowing teams were scheduled to compete at the Bergen and Kelly Cup Regattas April 27, but due to weather conditions, the races were cancelled.

Next up for the women’s team was Eastern Sprints, an annual regatta held in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Lake Quinsigamond May 5. Some of the top teams in the Eastern region of the United States come to compete at the Sprints including Columbia University, Northeastern University (a fellow Colonial Athletic Association rival,) Rutgers University, Harvard University (Radcliffe,) Dartmouth College, Boston University, the University of Rhode Island and Temple University.

To compete in four events, the Drexel Dragons brought four boats: the varsity eight, second varsity eight, third varsity eight and varsity four. The only boat to go to the grand final was the varsity eight, and this was the first time in program history that the varsity eight had qualified for the grand final.

The third varsity eight raced Harvard-Radcliffe, Northeastern and Temple in their heat on the morning of the races. The Dragons placed fourth about 20 seconds behind Harvard-Radcliffe. They competed in the petite final that afternoon against one other crew, Boston College, and defeated BC, which put them in seventh place overall of eight crews in the event.

The varsity eight competed in their heat following the third varsity eight. They raced Dartmouth, URI and Temple. After previously defeating Temple at Kerr Cup by seven seconds, the Dragons knew their biggest competition was going to be URI and Dartmouth who were seeded above them. The Dragons had a phenomenal race to start the day defeating both URI and Dartmouth to stun the crowds and upset the higher seeds. The Dragons were a couple seats behind the two crews at the beginning of the race, and Temple was a couple seats behind the Dragons. A big push in the second 500 meters gave Drexel the lead. URI tried to make a push into the Dragons’ lead towards the end of the race, but Drexel held on to win the heat posting the second fastest time of the day. This qualified the Dragons for the grand finals that afternoon.

In the grand finals, the Dragons raced Rutgers, Harvard-Radcliffe, Columbia, URI and Northeastern. This was the first time this season that the Dragons had raced against Northeastern, and this was a great opportunity to see how they matched up before the CAA championships. The teams were all pretty close at the beginning of the race. Rutgers and Harvard-Radcliffe had easily won their heats by open water in the morning but Harvard-Radcliffe gave Rutgers a little bit of a challenge in the grand final.

The Dragons stayed with the group of boats racing. Rutgers won with a time of 6:31.422 while the Dragons were in fifth behind URI with a time of 6:47.032. The Dragons beat Northeastern by over seven seconds, which puts them in great position for the CAA championships.

The second varsity eight had a tough morning in the heat against Harvard-Radcliffe, Temple, BU and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Dragons came in fourth in the heat which moved them into the petite final for the afternoon. It was a tight race between third through fifth place teams for the petite final in this event as they were only separated by about one second. BC finished third in the petite final with a time of 6:57.407, which was behind URI and Columbia. The Dragons finished with a time of 6:58.279 and BU was just behind them with a time of 6:58.503. The Dragons placed 10th overall out of 14 teams in the second varsity eight event.

The varsity four placed third in their heat behind Dartmouth and Temple but they missed out on the grand finals and instead competed in the petite final. They competed against BC, URI, BU, Northeastern, the University of Connecticut and the College of Holy Cross. UConn and Holy Cross dropped off from the other boats after the start of the race. The varsity four for the Dragons finished a fantastic season last year as they were the only boat to defeat Northeastern and claim a gold medal at the CAA championships. They showed this strength again as they defeated Northeastern at this competition by almost six seconds. Overall, the varsity four placed ninth of 13 teams in the whole event.

For their efforts, the women’s varsity eight received the CAA Boat of the Week honor for the third time this season.

The next race for the Dragons is arguably one of the most anticipated races of the season, the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River May 10 and 11. As a whole team, including the men’s team, the Dragons have won the overall team points trophy for the past six years in a row. The women’s team is the two-time defending champion of the women’s team points trophy. The women’s second varsity eight has also won the gold medal two years in a row.

The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the country. The champions will be crowned May 11 and the points will be tallied for all teams after the completion of the races. The Dragons are going for a seven-peat for the team points trophy, so head down to catch all the action this weekend. The women’s varsity eight will be competing against 22 other crews, while the men’s varsity eight will compete against 27 other crews. For more information on the regatta, you can visit https://www.dadvail.org/.

The Philadelphia 76ers are up 2-1 in the series against the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the 2019 NBA Playoffs. After only losing one game to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round before going on a four-game win streak to close out the series, the Sixers look to take down Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Raptors started the series with the home court advantage and took the first game 108-95. None of the Sixers players scored above 20 points. JJ Redick led the Sixers in scoring with 17 points, while Leonard had 45 points for the Raptors. Tobias Harris managed to throw up a double-double for the Sixers with 14 points and 15 rebounds, but as a team, they only shot 39.3 percent from the field against 51.9 percent shooting from the Raptors. The Sixers also turned the ball over 16 times, eight of which were in the second half.

The Sixers took an early lead in the first quarter of Game 1 but allowed the Raptors to gain momentum. Once the Raptors had the lead and control of the offense, the Sixers couldn’t tie it up.

However, things turned around for the Sixers in Toronto in Game 2 as they changed their defense slightly and put Simmons guarding Leonard for most of the game.

The Sixers lead the first half 51-38. The Raptors tried to make a comeback in the second half, but the Sixers were able to hold off a charge from Leonard.

The leading scorer for the Sixers was Jimmy Butler who put up 30 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Simmons had only six points playing 44 minutes of the game. Harris posted nine points and 11 rebounds. Joel Embiid, who was battling  stomach flu, scored 12 points and made 8-8 from the free throw line for crucial points to keep the Sixers ahead.

”There’s no way I was missing this game,” Embiid said. ”This game was really important to us. It doesn’t matter what I had, I was going to play.”

Leonard led the Raptors again with 35 points and Pascal Siakam followed him with 21 points.

The Sixers went 24-26 overall from free throw line for 92.3 percent. The biggest lead they had was 19 points but still had 19 turnovers throughout the game, which is an area that they will need to improve in order to win this series.

This was definitely Butler’s night, though. He had only 10 points on 4-12 from the field in the first game.

”[Butler] wasn’t going to be quiet this whole series,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said.

Game 3 was May 2. The Raptors trailed by only three points after the first quarter, but the Sixers continued to make adjustments to try to stop Leonard from making a run. The Sixers increased their lead to 11 by halftime, giving them a solid place to pick it up in the second half.

Embiid was on fire for this game, as he was able to match Leonard with 33 points by the end. Embiid also grabbed 10 rebounds to give him his first double-double of the playoffs. Butler also put up 22 points for the Sixers while Siakam had 20 points for the Raptors.

The Sixers won the game with a final score of 116-95.

Game 4 is scheduled for May 5 at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. More information, as well as recaps, can be found online at www.nba.com. If you want to follow the action in the Western Conference, check out this article.

The Drexel University men’s and women’s crew teams hosted the 53rd annual Kerr Cup Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia April 20. Boats competed in heats and then finals for their respective events. The Dragons took home four gold medals — the men’s and women’s teams each had two. Overall, the Dragons had 11 top-three finishes. The women’s team took home their seventh Kerr Cup in the past 10 years under head coach Paul Savell, and it was their 13th Kerr Cup for the program. The men’s team finished second behind Yale University.

The men’s and women’s freshman fours finished first and second, respectively, in their heats, which moved them into the grand finals later that day. The varsity fours each won their heats as well. The women’s varsity four had the second fastest time in the heats while the men’s varsity four had the fastest time heading into the finals.

The women’s freshman four placed second overall in their category to Lafayette College. The men’s freshman four won their event by finishing nine seconds ahead of Colgate University. In the final for the women’s varsity four, the Dragons placed second behind Lafayette by less than two seconds, and the men placed third behind Lafayette and Fordham University.

The women’s second varsity eight placed first in their heat ahead of George Mason University by just over 26 seconds. The men’s second varsity eight also placed first in their heat. The varsity eights then competed. The women’s varsity eight won their heat with the fastest time heading into the finals. The men’s varsity eight also won their heat but had the second fastest time behind Yale.

The men’s team also had a third varsity eight and freshman eight competing in the finals. The third varsity eight competed against Yale, Saint Joseph’s University, Bucknell University, Temple University and La Salle University. The Dragons placed second to Yale. In the freshman eight race, the men came in first by almost 10 seconds ahead of two boats from the United States Military Academy.

In the varsity eight finals for the women’s team, the Dragons were unstoppable. The second varsity eight raced in their final first and had a good lead over Temple after the first 500 meters. They stayed ahead of Temple and won the final by open water on the rest of the field. For the varsity eight, the Dragons were neck-and-neck with Temple at the start, but quickly rowed ahead leaving Temple behind at the 1000-meter mark. The Dragons had a strong finish as they won with a time of 6:37.90 ahead of Temple’s 6:45.87.

For the men’s team, both the first and second varsity eights lost to Yale. In the second varsity eight final, the men battled St. Joseph’s University and the University of California San Diego for the second place spot and ended up coming in ahead of St. Joe’s by five seconds. In the varsity eight final, the men also beat St. Joe’s to take second place by two seconds.

For their efforts, the women’s varsity eight earned their second Colonial Athletic Association Boat of the Week honors this season, and for her leadership, senior Amanda Reale, bow seat of the women’s varsity eight, was also awarded the Drexel School of Education Athlete of the Week honor.

The women’s team will now look ahead to compete for the Kelly Cup while the men’s team will compete for the Bergen Cup April 27. The women’s team will be going for their eighth straight Kelly Cup win. The Bergen and Kelly Cup regatta will be hosted on the Schuylkill river by St. Joe’s. At the conclusion of racing, the results will be available on row2k.

After the Drexel University men’s crew team had success at the University of California San Diego Invitational March 30 and 31, they had a weekend off from competition while the women’s team competed at the San Diego Crew Classic April 6 and 7.

The Drexel women’s varsity eight competed in the UC San Diego Health Cup. They were placed in the second heat for the first day of competition. After taking the lead in the first 500 meters of the race, they maintained the lead until the last 500 meters when the crew from San Diego University rowed past them to claim first place in the heat by less than a second. Both San Diego and the Dragons moved on to the grand finals which took place on the second day of competition.

The Drexel women’s second varsity eight competed for the Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy against some of the top-20 ranked programs in the nation. The Dragons were in the second heat against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, the University of Washington, as well as crews from the University of California Los Angeles, University of Tennessee, California State University, Sacramento and Saint Mary’s College of California. The Huskies from Washington came in first place by about 13 seconds ahead of UCLA. Drexel placed fifth in the heat which moved them into the third final which happened that afternoon.

In the third final for the trophy, the Dragons got second place behind San Diego by just over five seconds, which placed the Dragons in 14th place overall out of 17 teams.

On the next day of competition, the women’s varsity eight raced against Loyola Marymount University, San Diego, Sacramento State, Seattle Pacific University and Georgetown University. The Dragons won the event with a time of 6:48.587 which was a full length ahead of Loyola Marymount. With this victory, the Dragons claimed the UC San Diego Health Cup to bring back home to Philadelphia. They also received an invite for next season to compete in the Jessop-Whittier Cup Invitational, which is where all the top-20 ranked teams are invited to compete.

Both the men’s and women’s crew teams raced at the George Washington University Invitational on the Potomac River April 12 and 13. The men’s team brought a first, second and third varsity eight while the women brought a first and second varsity eight as well as a varsity four to compete.

Up first was the women’s varsity eight against Duquesne University. Drexel was leading by just about a full length ahead of Duquesne after the first 500 meters. They maintained the lead until the end winning by open water ahead of Duquesne and 19.1 seconds on the clock.

The men’s varsity eight raced against GW. The boats were overlapping for the first half of the race, but at the 600-meter mark, one of the GW rowers caught an over-the-head crab which caused the boat to have to stop before continuing to row. This gave the Dragons the opportunity to claim the lead and take the win with a time of 5:44.41 which was 1.86 seconds ahead of GW.

The second varsity eights raced the same competitors. The women’s varsity eight defeated Duquesne by 24.88 seconds, leading by a full boat length and open water after the first 500 meters. The men’s second varsity eight also defeated GW, but in a much closer race. GW had the lead from the first 500 meters, but the teams were neck-and-neck at the 1000-meter mark. The Dragons got the lead with 500 meters to go and won by 0.2 seconds.

The men’s third varsity eight raced GW and the crew from the United States Naval Academy. Navy took the win by almost nine seconds ahead of the Dragons, who got second place and GW finished last.

The women’s varsity four raced Duquesne and were about a boat length behind after the first 500 meters, but a huge move in before the 1000-meter mark gave them a notable lead of over 14 seconds, and they continued to hold on to this lead until the end. Drexel finished over 26 seconds ahead of Duquesne.

On the morning of the second day of competition, the women’s eights competed against the crew from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The women’s varsity eight finished with a time of 6:27.58 defeating MIT who came across the line with a time of 6:39.22. The women’s second varsity eight also defeated MIT in a similar fashion.

The men’s top-two varsity eights competed against Navy. The men’s first varsity eight lost to Navy by 5.78 seconds. The men’s second varsity eight also lost to Navy but by a closer margin of 1.14 seconds. The men’s third varsity eight raced GW and won by over six seconds. The Dragons led from the very beginning of the race and didn’t give GW any opportunity to walk back and regain contact.

The final races occured in the afternoon. The women’s boats raced GW and won all three races. The first varsity eight took the win with one of the fastest women’s times of the entire competition, 6:16.28. They defeated GW by almost 10 seconds. The second varsity eight had a closer race against GW. The Dragons had a much faster sprint at the end than GW which allowed them to win by 2.54 seconds. The varsity four took the lead from the start of the race, and were more than two full lengths ahead of GW by the 1500-meter mark. They defeated GW by just over 11 seconds.

The men’s eights raced Georgetown for their final duals of the competition. The men’s varsity eight pushed out to almost a full length by the 500-meter mark and had open water at 1000 meters. They finished with a time of 5:39.33 which was 7.41 seconds ahead of Georgetown. The second varsity eight had a tighter race coming down the course, but they also pulled off the win with a time of 5:47.89. The third varsity eight had a great race against Georgetown showing complete dominance. They won with a time of 6:01.74 which was 15.53 seconds ahead of Georgetown.

After all these races, there were slight changes in the rankings for the Dragons. The men’s varsity eight is ranked 19th in the nation, while the second and third varsity eights are now ranked 13th and 15th, respectively.

Both the men’s and women’s crew teams will compete at home on the Schuylkill River at the Kerr Cup Regatta April 20, and the Bergen and Kelly Cup Regattas April 27. Check out the teams on the river along Kelly Drive for some exciting races.

For the 2019 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men’s basketball championships, the No. 3 Texas Tech University Raiders and the No. 1 University of Virginia Cavaliers took the stage together for the first time in history April 8. This was the 12th NCAA game for head coach Chris Beard of Texas Tech and the 24th game for head coach Tony Bennett of Virginia.

Coach Bennett received the 2018 Coach of the Year award while this year, coach Beard received the award. After last season, Texas Tech lost four of their starters — three of these players graduated from the team, including Zhaire Smith, who now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.

This was the first national championship in the past 40 years in which two first-time participants played in the championship game. In addition, Virginia had never played Texas Tech, but both teams came in with some star players and strong defense that made it seem like this would be one of the lowest scoring championship games in history. For reference, the lowest scoring game was the 2011 NCAA championship game between Butler University and the University of Connecticut. UConn won 53-41 with Kemba Walker on the team who now plays for the Charlotte Hornets.

Virginia was ranked first in the nation for scoring defense, and Texas Tech lead the nation in field-goal percentage defense. As a team, Virginia has averaged fewer than nine turnovers per game this season. Texas Tech hoped to become the second national championship winner for the state of Texas since Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso, achieved the first in 1966.

Coming into this game, Virginia was 28-0 when they had the lead at halftime and 32-0 when they held their opponents to under 50 percent for field goals.

To support his alma mater Texas Tech, Patrick Mahomes, now the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, was in attendance to this game.

Kicking off the first half, Texas Tech grabbed the tip off to start play. Sophomore Jarrett Culver took the first shot from deep, but it bounced off the hoop as the ball went to Virginia. Culver was Texas Tech’s first player to be named the Big 12 player of the year for this season, as he led the team in scoring, rebounds and assists.

The ball was passed to sophomore Davide Moretti who missed his jump shot. After two possessions, Texas Tech couldn’t get past the Virginia defense. With almost two minutes gone in the first half, Virginia redshirt junior Mamadi Diakite hit his jumper assisted by junior Ty Jerome for the first points of the game.

During each possession, it was clear that this game would go to the final buzzer as teams were running out the shot-clock for each play.

After the first five minutes of the half had passed and only one field goal had been made, Virginia junior Kyle Guy stole the ball from Texas Tech redshirt senior Matt Mooney. Guy drove to the other end of the court to make a clean shot for two to get the Virginia momentum going.

In Virginia’s previous game against No. 5 Auburn University, Guy was sent to the free throw line with less than one second to go in the game after a crucial call was made on his three-point attempt. He was sent to the line to shoot three as Virginia was down 62-60 against Auburn. He ended up making all three free throws, helping Virginia take the final win 63-62.

Many reporters spoke of how the referees missed a double-dribble call earlier in the game against Virginia, but at the end of the day, the correct call was made for the foul on Auburn that sent Guy to the line.

With 13:41 to play in the first half, Jerome hit a three for Virginia, increasing their lead to 7-3. Then, after a Texas Tech turnover, junior Braxton Key slammed down a dunk, which kept the momentum for Virginia and also held Texas Tech to no buckets. This was also Texas Tech’s largest tournament deficit.

With seven minutes left in the first half and neither team with double-digit points yet, it was time for one team to make a statement. Texas Tech made their first field goal on a three-pointer from Moretti as he closed the gap to 9-6 in favor of Virginia.

Virginia had possession again and got the ball to Guy, who hit a step-back jumper from long that was originally called a two-point shot, as the referee believed his foot had been touching the line. They reviewed the shot and overturned the call to a three-point shot.

After another foul on Virginia, Owens was sent to the line again for Texas Tech and went 1-2. Coach Beard then decided to substitute in two guys from the bench — redshirt senior Brandone Francis and freshman Kyler Edwards. On the next two Texas Tech possessions, both Francis and Edwards hit threes, sparking the momentum to the Texas side.

With 7:33 to play before halftime, Moretti also hit a clean three to tie the game at 19. The teams pushed to stay tied over the next five minutes. With just under 2:30 to go, a foul was called on Virginia redshirt senior Jack Salt, which sent Moretti to the line. Moretti was the second in the nation in free-throw shooting at over 92 percent and the best free-throw shooter in the Big 12 conference.

With 1:29 to play, Virginia tied it at 29, and then Jerome hit a three at the last second to head into halftime leading 32-29.

Virginia was looking to be the first team to not play a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the tournament since 1985. They held their offensive turnover rate to 13.7 percent on the season, which was the third lowest in the NCAA. Virginia had won 61-straight when leading at halftime. Only three of the last seven NCAA champions had lead at the half, and with Virginia’s record for this scenario, their win percentage increased.

At the end of the first half, Texas Tech shot 8-24 from the field, 5-12 from three and 8-10 on free throws. Francis and Moretti each had eight points, and Texas Tech looked to improve on their numbers to be able to match up with the Virginia team.

Virginia shot 12-29 from the field, 5-11 from deep and 3-4 on free throws. Guy lead the scoring with 10 points, while Jerome had eight points, five rebounds and four assists to start the night.

Heading into the second half, Virginia won the jump ball and Guy hit a three to kick things off.

Hunter, an NBA hopeful, had a slow start in the first half to get on the board for scoring, but he really opened up in the second half. He was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and his efforts showed as Virginia was able to hold Texas Tech to no baskets in the first two minutes of the second half.

With 13:25 to go, Hunter made a three-pointer from the top of the arc for 45-38, and Francis responded for Texas Tech with a three assisted by Culver.

Hunter made another three with 11:45 to play, and it seemed like he had finally found his rhythm.

Guy increased Virginia’s lead to 10 with a tough three from the far corner from a pocket pass from Jerome. Then, a turnover by Hunter gave Texas Tech the opportunity to bring the score to 53-47, still in Virginia’s favor as the clock ran under nine minutes to play.

With 5:47 to go, a foul was called on Owens, and Hunter still made the layup increasing Virginia’s lead to 59-51. This was Owens’ fifth foul, which forced him to exit the floor. As this was his last game, it was bittersweet.

The next eight points all went to Texas Tech for an 8-0 run to tie the game at 59 with 3:28 on the clock. Crucial fouls were called in the last three minutes of play, sending both teams to the line for free throws.

A foul on Francis at 2:54 sent Diakite to the line. He made both free throws for 61-59 for Virginia. Then, a foul on Guy at 2:38, sent Culver to the line for two free throws to tie at 61.

Under the two minute mark, Guy made a layup to go up 65-61, but Moretti hit a big three to bring Texas Tech within one point.

After a rebound by Hunter, the ball went out of bounds for a turnover to Texas Tech with one second left to play. The play was reviewed, and the call stood as Texas Tech ball. Texas Tech inbounded to Culver, but Key went up for a clean block that sent it into overtime.

The excitement rose in the stands as the cameras panned to fans already standing up waiting to see how this game would end.

At the start of overtime, the teams traded points, but Mooney made a big jumper to put Texas Tech up 73-70. The overtime period was then filled with fouls, as both teams knew a five-minute period was too short to take any chances.

A foul on Moretti sent Guy to shoot two, bringing Virginia to only a one-point deficit. Hunter hit another corner three to then put Virginia up 75-73.

On the next three Texas Tech possessions, Culver missed a layup, Mooney missed a three and after Moretti got the defensive rebound, Hunter forced a Texas Tech turnover as he stole the ball.

A foul was then called on Mooney, which sent Jerome to take two free-throws, and he made both. Then a foul on Moretti sent Guy back to the line, and as he had proven previously, he was a dependable free-throw shooter in crunch time. With 31 seconds to go, he made both free-throws to increase Virginia’s lead to six.

With 16 seconds left, Texas Tech had gone 2-8 from the field in the overtime period, missing opportunities to score baskets on their crucial possessions.

At the end, a foul on Mooney with eight seconds remaining sent Key to the line for two, which added to Virginia’s lead 85-77. In the last couple seconds, Mooney attempted a three for Texas Tech but missed, and the score stood to the final buzzer. Virginia went 12-12 for free throws in overtime.

This was the first national championship in school history for Virginia and a heartbreaking loss for Texas Tech, who gave it their all to the last second. Overall, Virginia was more efficient across the board on shooting. They shot 27-59 from the field (45.8 percent), 11-24 from beyond the arc (45.8 percent) and made 20-23 free-throws (87 percent). Texas Tech shot 27-63 in field goals (42.9 percent), 10-30 for three-pointers (33.3 percent) and 13-15 for free-throws (86.7 percent).

Hunter led Virginia in scoring with 27 points, and he also had nine rebounds. Guy had 24 points, and Jerome had 16 points. The leading scorer for Texas Tech was Francis off the bench who scored 17 points. Culver and Moretti both had 15 points. Texas Tech scored 29 points from their bench, while Virginia scored six points.

In the final speeches from players and coaches, it was clear that both teams were ready to come back hungry next season. After a rough ending to their tournament hopes last season, Virginia was happy to be standing on the podium with the trophy this year. Texas Tech also made a statement this year, as they have a relatively young squad who now has championship experience to bring back to their training.

The Drexel University men’s and women’s crew teams have started their season with some top three finishes and dual race wins.

They began their respective seasons with races against La Salle University and Villanova University March 16 on the Schuylkill River. The women’s team swept both of their races against La Salle while the men won the varsity eight and third varsity eight categories but fell to La Salle in the second varsity eight.

In the varsity eight categories, the men’s first varsity eight and second varsity eight raced placed one-two with times of 5:48.9 and 5:49.8, respectively. It was a battle to the finish line as less than a second separated the two crews while La Salle finished 10 seconds back from first place, and Villanova was 4.4 seconds back from La Salle.

In the women’s varsity eight, the first and second varsity eights also went one-two with times of 6:32.8 and 6:41.8, respectively. La Salle was 13.4 seconds back in third place. In the women’s second varsity eight event, Drexel’s third varsity eight competed in a dual with La Salle and won by a huge margin of open water of over 30 seconds.

For the next race, the teams traveled to Cooper River in Cherry Hill, New Jersey for the Murphy Cup Regatta March 23. Due to windy conditions, the men’s and women’s varsity fours, women’s novice four and men’s novice eight events were cancelled.

The first events of the day were the varsity eight events. The women were in the third heat against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Colgate University and Duquesne University. The women placed in second behind North Carolina by 3.73 seconds, which earned them a spot in the grand finals. The men were in the first heat and finished in first place ahead of Rutgers University by 11.14 seconds. This also earned them a spot in the grand finals.

In the women’s junior varsity eight, the Dragons were in the third heat and came in second to the University of Pennsylvania by 10.44 seconds. They moved on to the grand finals in this event as well. In the men’s junior varsity eight, the Dragons were in the third heat against Temple University, Notre Dame University and Bucknell University. They finished in third place, which placed them in the petite final for the afternoon.

In the men’s third varsity eight, the Dragons placed first in the first heat, which moved them securely into the grand final.

Early in the afternoon, the women’s varsity eight finals were held. The Dragons placed third overall in the women’s varsity eight event with a time of 6:48.24. Penn won with a time of 6:42.79, and North Carolina was second with a time of 6:44.82. The men’s varsity eight crew won first place in the event, coming through the line with a full boat length ahead of second place Marist College.

In the junior varsity eight events, the women’s crew placed second behind Penn by only 1.92 seconds. It was a clear battle between Drexel and Penn right from the start as Drexel finished with open water ahead of North Carolina, who took third place. The men’s team placed second in the petite final and eighth overall in the junior varsity event. The men won the third varsity eight event more than 13 seconds ahead of Temple.

The women’s team traveled back to Cooper River the following day for the Cooper Sprints March 24. After some hard racing the previous day, the teams did not place well against some of the top ranked teams in the nation at this race.

In the third heat of the women’s varsity eight event, the Dragons raced the United States Naval Academy, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Oklahoma and Villanova. As of March 20, Navy was ranked No. 26 in the nation and Oklahoma was ranked No. 28. Drexel came in fourth place, which put them in the petite final. The women’s second varsity eight and varsity four both got fifth place in the second heats. The second varsity eight moved on to the petite final, while the varsity four moved on to the third level final. The second varsity four won their heat, which moved them in to the grand final, the only boat to do so.

The women’s varsity eight placed 10th overall in the event, while the second varsity eight placed eighth overall. The varsity four got 13th overall, and the second varsity four placed 6th overall.

The men’s team traveled to Chula Vista, California at the United States Olympic Training Center to compete in the University of California San Diego Invitational March 30 and 31. The teams competing were Drexel, UCSD, Stanford University, Gonzaga University and the University of San Diego. At the beginning of the spring seasons Feb. 26, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association released the preseason rankings for the men’s varsity eights. Stanford was ranked No. 13 in the nation, and Drexel was No. 20, while USD also received votes.

During the first racing session, the men’s varsity eight defeated UCSD by just over six seconds showing clear open water. The second varsity eight followed suit with a win over UCSD by almost three seconds. During the second session, the varsity eight had a clear advantage over Gonzaga coming in first with a time of 5:46.97, a season best so far. The second varsity eight defeated Gonzaga as well with a time of 5:55.65.

For the final session March 31, Drexel raced a dual against Stanford. Stanford won the varsity eight race by 4.64 seconds ahead of Drexel, while the second varsity eight beat Stanford by 7 seconds.

For their efforts, the women’s varsity eight earned the Colonial Athletic Association Boat of the Week. The women’s team will now travel to Mission Bay in San Diego to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic April 6 and 7. For more information, visit https://crewclassic.org/.

For his leadership in the stroke seat of the men’s second varsity eight, senior Dario Vracevic earned the Drexel School of Education Athlete of the Week honor April 1. The men will have a couple weeks of practice before both teams will travel to the Potomac River in Washington D.C. to compete in the George Washington Invitational April 12 and 13.

The Drexel University men’s lacrosse team had huge wins over Saint Joseph’s University March 8 and the No. 11 Villanova University March 10 at the Vidas Athletic Complex for the Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic.

SJU went up 2-0 at the start of the first period, but the Dragons tied it up at the end 3-3. In the second, the score was still neck-and-neck, but SJU had a 6-5 lead heading into halftime.

The two teams battled in the third period as junior Matthew Varian was the only player to score, which tied things up for the Dragons at 6-6.

The Dragons capped off the end of the fourth period with a 4-0 scoring run to win the game 10-7.

This was a great win for the Dragons as they had lost last season to SJU 10-9.

Freshman goalkeeper Ross Blumenthal made his collegiate debut during the SJU game and had six saves for the Dragons. Junior Marshal King and Varian ended the game each with hat tricks. For his efforts, King was named the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week.

During the game against Villanova, the score was tight in the beginning as the Wildcats scored the first goal of the game. The Dragons were quick to respond as they tied things up at one just three minutes later. By the end of the first quarter, Villanova was leading 5-3.

The Wildcats opened the second period with a goal, but the Dragons proceeded to go on a 6-0 scoring run to gain a lead of 9-6. Villanova was stunned.

The scoring run continued after halftime as the Dragons increase their lead to 11-6 before Villanova had a chance to respond. The third period ended with the Dragons up 12-8.

This lead was large enough to maintain in the final period as the Dragons won 15-10 against one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.

Villanova took more shots throughout the game than the Dragons, but Drexel’s shooting was more effective as they made 23 of their total 32 shots on goal.

Blumenthal had 13 saves for the Dragons, a career-high, and sophomore Collin Mailman also had a career-high four goals.

The Dragons are now 3-3 for the season. The team will travel to Washington, D.C., to play Georgetown University March 16 at 12 p.m.

The Drexel University men’s basketball team traveled to North Charleston, South Carolina, to play the College of Charleston in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association championships. Charleston was the third seed with a record of 23-8, 12-6 CAA and Drexel was the sixth seed with a record of 13-18, 7-11 CAA. The game took place March 10. Drexel lost to Charleston 73-61.

Charleston was in full control of the Dragons in the first half, forcing 10 turnovers. The Dragons struggled in the first half shooting as a team making only 32 percent of their shots and going 12 percent from three-point range. The lone bright spot for Drexel in the first half was sophomore James Butler who nearly had a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds in only 12 minutes of play. Charleston was led by junior Grant Riller who scored 12 of his 24 points in the first half. Charleston shot an impressive 48 percent in the first half while making 36 percent of the their three-pointers.

The Dragons continued their season-long theme of playing much better in the second half as they outscored Charleston 37-35. The Dragons were able to shoot the ball much better in the second half shooting 48 percent on field goals and 36 percent on three-pointers. Despite the second half production from the Dragons, Charleston’s 14-point halftime lead was too much to overcome.

The loss to Charleston marked the end of the 2018-19 season for the Drexel Dragons. The Dragons finished the season at 13-19, 7-11 CAA which is almost identical to last season where they finished 13-20, 6-12 CAA. Despite the losing record, the Dragons showed that they have a lot of potential and just need to improve on playing well for a full game. There were too many games lost because the team was down in the first half despite playing extremely well and outscoring their opponents in the second half.

One of the most impressive players for the Dragons this season was freshman Camren Wynter who won CAA Rookie of the Year. On the year, Wynter averaged 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. Departing from the Dragons will be graduate transfer Trevor John and senior Troy Harper who led the Dragons in scoring but missed the last few games of the season due to an injury suffered at practice.

A bittersweet end to a season with lots of highs and lows. It will be interesting to see how the team approves in the off-season months ahead and how a new recruiting class could add more depth to the roster.

A season filled with highs and lows for the Drexel University men’s wrestling team was salvaged during the 2019 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships. The Dragons traveled to Binghamton University March 8 for the 115th edition of the tournament.

Drexel fielded 10 of their season’s top performers on the first day of the competition, which proved to be driven by intense competition. The EIWA presented Drexel with several of the most elite wrestling programs in the nation, namely Lehigh University, Cornell University, Princeton University, the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy.

Almost immediately as Drexel began competing, a bright ray of hope began to shine on the Dragons. This hope, as hope so often does, came from an unlikely source, this time in the form of freshman Antonio Mininno. The underclassman had endured a difficult maiden season of collegiate wrestling up to that point, but came in determined to prove his mettle to the crowds.

Mininno carried no individual ranking heading into the championships, making his performances in bouts against the top-10 ranked wrestlers of the competition that much more impressive. Mininno began his run at 125 pounds against the No. 6 ranked performer in the category, Hofstra University freshman Dylan Ryder.

The Mininno-Ryder bout took a triple overtime to produce a winner, with the Drexel grappler overcoming serious exhaustion to edge out the 2-1 decision in the narrowest of margins. The effects of the match showed in Mininno’s second match, against University of Pennsylvania freshman Carmen Ferrante, to whom he dropped a 6-2 decision. Luckily, Mininno recovered enough to advance to the second day of competition after an 8-4 decision over Lehigh freshman Luke Resnick.

In spite of Mininno’s accomplishments, not all of Drexel’s wrestlers at the lighter weight classes shared the same success. Redshirt freshman Alex Salas was slated to compete at 133 pounds, his first match up being against No. 5 ranked Army sophomore Lane Peters. Unfortunately for Salas, he was pinned in less than a minute, tumbling into the consolation rounds. Soon after, he had a chance at redemption against Brown University sophomore Hunter Kosco, but was again unable to survive all three periods, taking another loss due to a fall to complete his run on the first day of the tournament.

Junior Nick Widmann competed at 141 pounds, one category down from his natural weight class. The weight cut had a clear effect on Widmann, who suffered back to back losses to exit the tournament early. The upperclassman first took on Binghamton University junior Anthony Sparacio, to whom he lost out a 16-7 majority decision. Widmann followed up his performance by facing Bucknell University freshman Noah Levett in the consolation bracket. Widmann was handed a 21-5 technical loss midway through the final period. Widmann’s usual spot at 149 pounds was filled by No. 6 ranked redshirt sophomore Parker Kropman. Kropman was able to pick up a win against Binghamton freshman Frank Garcia before two losses in a row cut his run short.

Drexel’s middleweight outings were highlighted by No. 1 ranked junior Ebed Jarrell — at 165 pounds — advancing to the second day of competition without defeat. Jarell was granted a bye in the first round of competition before having to face Cornell freshman Andrew Berreyesa. Jarrell made short work of his opponent, ensuring the shutout in a 10-0 majority decision win.

The remainder of the middleweights couldn’t find a way to continue on into the second days of events. Sophomore Evan Barczak, despite his No. 9 ranking at 157 pounds, had nothing for his opponents — American University redshirt sophomore Kizhan Clarke and Navy sophomore Quentin Hovis — who respectively eliminated Barczak from the main and consolation rounds.

Redshirt freshman Bryan McLaughlin earned his sole win of his campaign at 174 pounds in a 10-9 decision against Bucknell sophomore Frankie Guida, before leaving the tournament due to losses to two other top-10 seeded wrestlers.

The 184-pound division featured a run from freshman Anthony Walters, who fell in his opening contest against No. 4 ranked Brown senior Christian Lafragola, who handed the Drexel wrestler a 7-2 decision loss. The defeat resulted in Walters dropping into the consolation bracket, where he was able to get into the win column with a forfeit over Franklin & Marshall College junior Reid Robilotto. Walters was fully eliminated after another loss, this time to No. 6 ranked American redshirt sophomore Tanner Harvey.

Drexel’s heavyweights had a great day on the mats, with redshirt seniors Stephen Loiseau and Joey Goodhart both doing well enough to move onto the second day of competition. Loiseau went undefeated in three matches, while Goodhart progressed thanks to his string of wins in the secondary brackets.

Loiseau performed well with his No. 4 ranking at 197 pounds by going 2-0 on the mat the first day, first getting the technical fall win over Sacred Heart University freshman Connor Fredricks, before making the quick turnaround to end Navy junior Joshua Roetman’s championship hopes with a 4-2 decision victory. Roetman was ranked one spot below Loiseau at No. 5.

Goodhart, who came into the EIWA’s with a No.2 ranking and a strong chance of running away with the heavyweight bracket, suffered a shock loss in his second match of the day. Shortly after dismantling Penn freshman Ben Goldin in 4-0 shutout, Goodhart saw his hope of gold vanish after a close 3-2 loss to No. 7 ranked Franklin & Marshall senior Antonio Pelusi. Fortunately for Goodhart, he earned a chance to move to the consolation quarterfinals with a 9-0 majority decision over No. 8 ranked Hofstra redshirt junior Omar Haddad.

While Drexel lost over half of their competing athletes on the first day, the Dragons entered the latter portion of the competition ready to exceed what was expected of them. This mentality proved to be a winning one, as three of the remaining four wrestlers for Drexel qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.

Mininno showed a veteran’s craftiness in his two remaining matches, showing great defensive capability from the bottom by executing several escapes from underneath his opponents. The freshman went 0-2, dropping two decisions (each determined by a single point) en route to a spot on the podium with an eighth place finish.

Loiseau and Goodhart were the joint top finishers for Drexel, with each senior reaching third place in their divisions. Loiseau won two in the consolation bracket after getting knocked out of the championships by Princeton sophomore Patrick Brucki. Goodhart went 3-0 on the second day, winning a rematch against Franklin & Marshall’s Pelusi to stand at third on the podium.

Ebed Jarrell went 1-2 in his matches to finish fourth overall at 165 pounds. He joined Goodhart and Loiseau as one of the three Drexel wrestlers going on to compete at the NCAAs. Goodhart’s 5-1 record, as well as his joint top placing for Drexel earned him the Drexel School of Education Athlete of the Week commendation. Drexel finished ninth overall out of 16 competing teams at the EIWA championships, one of their best ever finishes since joining the conference.

Recently, Kropman received an at-large selection to compete at the NCAA championships. He will be joining Goodhart, Loiseau and Jarrell who will make the trip to Pittsburgh for the biggest stage for collegiate wrestling. The NCAAs will last from March 21-23.

The Drexel University men’s lacrosse team had a huge win over the No. 11 Villanova Wildcats March 10 at Vidas Field.

The score was tight in the beginning as the Wildcats scored the first goal of the game. The Dragons were quick to respond as they tied things up at one just three minutes later. By the end of the first quarter, Villanova was leading 5-3.

The Wildcats opened the second period with a goal, but the Dragons proceeded to go on a 6-0 scoring run to gain a lead of 9-6. Villanova was stunned.

The scoring run continued after halftime as the Dragons increase their lead to 11-6 before Villanova had a chance to respond. The third period ended with the Dragons up 12-8.

This lead was large enough to maintain in the final period as the Dragons won 15-10 against one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.

Villanova took more shots throughout the game than the Dragons, but Drexel’s shooting was more effective as they made 23 of their total 32 shots on goal.

Freshman goalkeeper Ross Blumenthal had 13 saves for the Dragons, a career-high, and sophomore Collin Mailman also had a career-high four goals.

For more details, check back later this Friday.