(Ajon Brodie – The Triangle)

To cap a fantastic regular season, Drexel sent its women’s crew team to the Colonial Athletic Association Championships May 18 in hopes of another strong showing on the water. The women brought home a third-place finish, successfully medaling in each of the three races for the first time in program history.

Head coach Paul Savell and Drexel sent three boats to the regatta, competing in the varsity four, second varsity eight and varsity eight. The results for each of the three races were the same, with Drexel finishing third behind Northeastern University and the University of Buffalo.

“In CAA the women had a strong showing,” Savell said. “That’s the first time we medaled in all three events.”

The Sandra Lee Sheller boat claimed bronze in the varsity four. In both the second varsity eight and the varsity eight, the Maria Papadakis and the Marlene Buckley boats, respectively, finished narrowly behind Buffalo for third place.

In each of the two races, Drexel finished fewer than two seconds away from claiming the silver medal.

“We want to finish on the other end on those two races,” Savell said. “When it’s that close, you want to finish ahead.”

Though he was glad to walk away with three medals, Savell saw opportunities for the team to do better. In both of the tight races, the second varsity eight and the varsity eight, he saw opportunities for improvement and a blown chance to finish higher than third.

“I feel like both boats had good parts to their races that we were able to come away; we had nice sprints,” he admitted. “There were just sections of the race we could have done better.”

It capped a crucial final stretch of the season for the women, after winning the Kelly Cup and helping to bring home the overall points trophy at the Dad Vail Regatta. The success, according to Savell, was “unprecedented” and was part of a historic season for the p
rogram.

“This was a banner year for the women,” Savell explained. “They just had an unbelievable year; I feel they really stepped up.”

Savell sensed it could be a special year and that his team was capable of great things when they were coming down the stretch of the city championships. The way the team dominated those races, winning five of 10 events, really showed the seven-year head coach something.

“I always feel we start to hit our stride and gain our speed at the city championships,” Savell explained. “When we were able to really dominate in that race, I really felt we had something good going.”

Despite the high expectations, he still was very impressed that the anticipated results followed. It meant everything came together for the team.

“To do what they did meant everything worked for us,” he said.

Another reason the season is extra special and had everything working in it is the fact that it is not over yet. On the rowing world’s map, the program received an invitation to participate in the Henley Women’s Regatta in England June 20-22.

The team, bringing two boats with them, will depart for Henley-on-Thames June 14, which is when they will find out their competition for each event. Until then, Savell is reserving expectations until the field settles.

“We’ll see. We don’t know our competition yet,” Savell said. “Who knows what’s going to happen?”

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Senior right-handed pitcher Shelby Taylor runs off the mound during an April 13 game versus James Madison University. The Dragons lost that game, 5-4, and are in dire need of some good luck to make the postseason as their season winds down. (Ken Chaney)

With two weeks in the regular season left, Drexel’s softball team is making its final push to qualify for the postseason.

The team has a number of important conference games left, and by beating the remaining teams in front of them, the Dragons could be on their way to the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

In last week’s action, they did not take advantage of gaining ground on CAA opponent Towson University. Drexel lost two of three to close out its home schedule.

On April 18, the Dragons wasted a tremendous pitching performance from senior right-hander Shelby Taylor, dropping the first game of the doubleheader and series, 2-1. Taylor allowed two runs, only one earned, over the complete seven innings.

The Dragons’defense put them in a first inning hole after senior catcher Maddison Timoteo struggled to corral a passed ball and allowed a runner from second to come all the way home to score. The game remained scoreless until the Tigers tacked on an insurance run in the fourth when a two-out single drove in a run to make it 2-0.

Taylor drew the line there, and actually cut the deficit in half herself. After the pitcher led off with a walk, the Dragons used what they’ve been using all year to score a run: small ball. A sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly eventually brought Taylor in to make it 2-1, but the offense struggled the rest of the way.

Missy McCormick shut down the Dragons and topped Taylor on the mound. The junior went all seven innings, allowing just the one run and three hits.

Drexel would get away from her in Game 2 and used a big third and fourth inning to ride a 9-1 victory that only took five innings. Senior right-hander Rose Portiolli earned the complete game victory on the bump.

Towson played a very sloppy game in the field, and the Dragons took advantage. Only four of their nine runs were earned.

In the third inning, Towson took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run, and when Drexel came to the plate, its first two hitters were retired. But a two-out walk and a fielding error set the stage for a big inning. Three consecutive run-scoring singles from Taylor, sophomore Karli Boyer and junior Liana Newton put the Dragons ahead, and later in the inning another error led to a fourth run.

Ahead 4-1 through three, Portiolli had more than enough and cruised the rest of the way. Taylor added a three-run home run in the fourth and Drexel was able to split the day’s doubleheader.

Saturday, Drexel head coach Miranda Ervin handed the ball back to her winning pitcher from the previous day, but Portiolli was reamed for five runs, managing to record only four outs. The Dragons were shutout 5-0 to Towson in the rubber game.

Towson’s Maureen Hepner hit a three-run home run in the first inning, and McCormick again cruised on the mound. Drexel managed only three hits and struggled to push a run across after scoring nine in five innings the previous game, highlighting the inconsistency of the team.

“Hitting is contagious,”Ervin said. “When you are hitting, it seems like everyone hits. When you’re not, it seems like it’s affecting everyone.”

The lone bright spot from the game was the relief appearance Taylor gave. Tasked with stabilizing the game and limiting the damage, Taylor did not allow a run in relief of Portiolli over 4.2 innings. It lowered her ERA to 2.53.

Last season, she lost 14 games and posted an ERA of 5.61. Now in her second season pitching for Ervin, and fourth overall for Drexel, it represents significant growth from last year’s struggles.

“The big thing for [Taylor] is the preparation she is putting in this year,”Ervin said. “She made the changes we were asking her to make on the mound, and I just think her focus is there, more so than it ever has been.”

That leaves Drexel with a record of 17-21, ___ games back of the fourth and final spot in the CAA tournament and closing in on the team’s goal of winning 20 ball games.

Though they are behind significantly in the playoff standings, Drexel will have a chance to make up significant ground in their six remaining conference games — all of which are against teams they are chasing.

This weekend, starting April 26, they will look to start the chase by facing the College of Charleston on the road in a doubleheader Saturday with a finale on Sunday.

With Charleston currently one of the four teams in position for the playoffs, along with James Madison University, Hofstra University and Towson, Drexel will get a tremendous chance to cut into the damage and get back in the hunt.

“If we perform well against College of Charleston and perform well against Hofstra, we’re in the hunt to go to the conference tournament,”Ervin pointed out.

Drexel still has three games left against Hofstra before season’s end. They have defeated each of their conference rivals at least once, but the remaining six games, as well as three more out of conference, will all be on the road. Including games in neutral locations, the Dragons are 10-14 away from home, but Ervin does not anticipate it being too much more of a challenge.

“I don’t really think it will pose a challenge for us,”she said of her team’s resolve on the road, “We’ve played on the road before, we were gone all of February.”

In fact, she is embracing going out on the road. As the team is winding down the season, she sees it as an opportunity for the team to bond.

“I really feel like it creates an atmosphere of family again, and they get to be together,”she explained. “The challenge is them keeping up with classes.”

The games start on April 26 with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. It will end with a 1 p.m. matinee on April 27 before returning for three games against Saint Joseph.

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Junior Leticia Matsuoka lines up a pitch versus James Madison University Sunday, April 13. The Dragons lost a close one to the Dukes, 5-4. (Ken Chaney)

Inconsistency has plagued Drexel’s softball team all season. After starting the season 3-9, the team turned the season around and reached the .500 mark. They were a game under going into a weekend series against James Madison University. Though they fell below their high water mark for the season, they were trending upward going into the games, winning six of nine since a pair of postponements.

They started the home series well, opening the April 12 doubleheader with a rallying win, 7-6 against the Dukes. Trailing 6-1 going into the seventh, the Dragons stormed back to take the game for their only win in the series.

Things got off to a good start after Baeley Reed’s RBI single pushed the game’s first run across in the bottom of the second to give Drexel the early lead. It would not last long as the Dukes tied it in the fourth after pitcher Jailyn Ford  sent a homerun over the right field wall.

Shelby Taylor, who came into the game with five consecutive  starts, pitched well again for a sixth good outing, but was not backed by her defense. In the top of the fifth, Reed committed a costly error at short stop that led to three runs in the inning and only one earned.

The game stayed at 4-1 until the top of the seventh when the Dukes tacked on two more with Taylor still on the bump. With two outs and one error already committed in the frame, James Madison scored two more on a fielding error by Vanesa Lightfoot to make it a five-run game.

Taylor, who allowed just two earned runs over seven innings on the mound, made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh  with a two-run home run to make it 6-3. Back-to-back RBI singles later in the inning from Maddison Timoteo and Comfort Ahonkhai made it a one-run game.

The stage was set for Leticia Matsuoka to at least tie the game with the bases loaded. She landed a walk-on double to give Drexel its 15th win of the season, the 11th for Taylor.

In the second game, Drexel was unable to capitalize on the momentum of the dramatic victory and fell, 7-3. In the second inning, the Dragons tied the game at one where the scored remained until the fourth, when a home run from Ford started a six-run outing in the late innings from the Dukes.

Trailing 7-1, Drexel started its rally, an inning earlier this time, in the sixth. With the bases loaded, Timoteo was hit by a pitch, forcing in a run. An RBI single from Reed made it 7-3 but the rally was squashed with Ahonkhai hitting a ground ball too short that forced a runner out at the plate. Drexel would not score again.

Sunday’s rubber game was a wild one that went back and forth, ultimately ending with the Dukes on top, 5-4, to claim the series. The two teams combined for five home runs on the sun-splashed Sunday afternoon.

Taylor’s run of good starts came to an end as she was touched for all five runs over a complete game performance. Niki Prince led off the game with a home run to get the home run derby started, but Taylor answered with her first of two on the day in the bottom of the frame.

A two-run single from Erica Field gave the lead back to the Dukes, 3-2. The game would stay that way through the fourth inning.

Taylor’s second home run, in the bottom of the fifth, knotted the score at three. Catcher Karli Boyer would make it back-to-back home runs  and give Drexel a 4-3 lead.

It would not last, though, as Catherine Clavin pinch-hit a two-run home run for the fifth and final lead change and fifth long ball of the game.

The record sunk Drexel to 15-17 on the season, and they would have to sit on the two losses a bit longer after the April 15 game against La Salle University was canceled, not to be made up. The game was even moved up two hours from its initial start time to avoid the weather, but the ballgame was still preempted.

The Dragons took on University City rival the University of Pennsylvania and powered to a 6-2 “road” victory April 16. Ahonkhai drove in four runs and Matsuoka tallied two more as the Dragons used a four-run fourth inning to draw within one game of .500 on the season.

Taylor got back to winning with four solid innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run.

The team will return to its home field April 18 for a doubleheader against Towson University at 1 p.m.

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Senior Fiona Flanagan (right) scored nine points on 3-4 shooting and dished out five assists in Wednesday’s Senior Night win over Towson University March 5 at the DAC. It was the women’s basketball team’s final game of the regular season.

After a brutal loss March 2, the Drexel women’s basketball team responded with a blowout victory against Towson University March 5 to head into the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.

The week began with a demoralizing 60-58 loss Sunday afternoon at Hofstra University. Drexel went from looking like they were going to escape with a tough road victory to having it taken away a few seconds later. The Dragons fell to Hofstra for their fourth loss in the last five games.

Drexel and Hofstra came in as part of a tight group of teams barely separated in the CAA. Going into the game, Drexel could have finished as high as second and as low as sixth. They played like two close teams in the first half, each knotted at 25 going into the intermission. Drexel actually overcame a five-point deficit in the final two minutes of the half to even the score.

Hofstra created immediate separation out of the break, though, going on a 10-2 run early in the second half. However, Drexel’s offense, which has been inconsistent all season long, had an answer. A pair of threes from sophomore guard Meghan Creighton and senior Fiona Flanagan, who led with 11 points, put Drexel ahead. And after a Hofstra three, freshman guard Alexis Smith put Drexel right back on top.

From there, the Pride scored eight unanswered points. As the game wound down, Drexel chipped into the deficit, and after sophomore guard Carrie Alexander’s basket, it was a one-possession ball game. A Creighton steal led to a game-tying jumper from sophomore guard Rachel Pearson, making it 58-all with less than a minute to play.

Hoftstra’s Amna Onyeuku missed the front end of a one-and-one and Drexel, with 37 seconds left, had the ball and a chance to take the lead. Flanagan received a pass on the left wing and from just inside the arc nailed what looked like the go-ahead basket. Controversy ensued, however, and the basket was waved off due to a double dribble call.

Head coach Denise Dillon called the double dribble “nonexistent.”

“I thought we ran the right play and Fiona Flanagan did a great job getting the shot up,” Dillon said.

Hofstra’s Elo Edeferioka converted a free throw on the other end of the floor for the Pride to take the lead, and after Creighton drew contact on a layup try, the referees swallowed their whistles and no call was made. For insurance, Hofstra’s Asia Jackson added another free throw and Creighton’s shot as time expired could not find the basket.

“It was disheartening,” Dillon said of the loss. “We knew it’d come to the last possession and to have it end … with the call being double dribble, which was nonexistent, it was really disheartening.”

The Dragons had one more game to play before the close of the season, and they put the unfortunate call behind them. Drexel blew out the Tigers 82-40 on Senior Night.

Wire to wire, the Dragons dominated. They topped 40 points in each half as a result of shooting an incredible 65 percent from the field.

The Dragons played their most complete game, thriving on each end of the court. They drained 10 threes and caused nearly double the turnovers they committed.

“I was really impressed,” Dillon stated. “It was our best played game of the season, from start to finish.”

Drexel was led by Alexander and senior Tory Thierolf in scoring with 14 points each. Thierolf was one of three seniors, along with Abby Redick and Flanagan, to be honored before the game as part of Senior Night.

Dillon called the trio a great representation of the program.

“It’s hard to put [their contributions] in a few words,” she said. “Their overall commitment is what stands out most. They were a great representation of what we’re all about both on and off the court.”

Wednesday’s game marked their final games as Dragons at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. The DAC Pack, Drexel’s fan group, sent them off with countless cheers in their final appearances on the court. For that, Dillon was especially appreciative.

“It’s so important, the support from one another,” she said. “They were out last night recognizing all three [seniors]. I could not be more appreciative of that.”

Though their days at the DAC are done, the seniors will lead the rest of the Dragons into the CAA tournament next weekend. The win clinched Drexel the fourth seed in the conference tournament, and they will face Hofstra, the fifth seed, March 14 at 2:30 p.m.

The blowout win has the Dragons feeling good about themselves and confident heading into the postseason.

“It was huge,” Dillon noted. “You have to feel good as a group going into the biggest game of the season. I felt they sensed it on the court. If they sense it, good things can happen.”

Dillon expects her team to be ready to go from the opening tip on Friday. The players know what’s at stake, a championship, and she would hope they come to the host site of Upper Marlboro, Md., ready to play.

“There aren’t motivational speeches that need to be made,” she explained. “They should be excited and ready to make a run, starting Friday. If you can’t get up for this, you can’t get up for any game.”

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Point guard Meghan Creighton finished with 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in Drexel’s 69-58 loss to James Madison University Feb. 16 at the DAC. The sophomore has started all 27 games for the Dragons so far this season.

This past week, the Drexel women’s basketball team lost an overtime heartbreaker to slip into a three-game losing streak, but recovered a few days later to get back on track.

The Dragons let one slip away Feb. 23 against Northeastern University. On their home floor in Boston, the Huskies won their first game against Drexel in over six years, snapping the Dragons’ 10-game winning streak in the head-to-head series.

Drexel led for about 38 of the 40 regulation minutes before allowing the Huskies to tie the game in the final minute. The Dragons’ 15-point lead was officially gone when Tanisha Hopewell put back a second-chance bucket — a category of shooting that got Northeastern more than triple the points it got Drexel — to tie the score at 61 with 48 seconds to play.

According to head coach Denise Dillon, the team went into a funk in scoring, and this unsuccessful trend carried over to the defensive end. Eventually the team tensed up and the walls closed in on them.

“We started missing some shots and went through a little bit of a scoring drought, which unfortunately carries over on both ends of the floor for us,” Dillon said. “So then the communication and the sense of urgency kind of got lost on the defensive end, so [Northeastern] of course capitalized.”

The Dragons came out of the gate firing, converting 56 percent of their first-half field goals. A barrage of early threes gave them a 22-7 lead in the first half.

Though Northeastern tried to chip away at the lead, Drexel responded, giving itself what, at the time, seemed to be a comfortable margin. The Dragons’ offense did not keep up its first-half pace, but still did enough to hold a nine-point lead with seven minutes left.

Despite leading for much of the game, two of Drexel’s key producers, Meghan Creighton and Rachel Pearson, were struggling. The sophomore duo combined to shoot just 6-25 from the field.

Creighton, the sharp-shooting point guard, did not get much breathing room to shoot accurately, and Pearson was in the midst of a shooting slump.

That being the case, the Dragons needed someone to step up. Heading Drexel’s scoring was senior Fiona Flanagan. Doing everything she could to position the Dragons in the best spot possible for her last Colonial Athletic Association tournament, the senior matched a career-high with 19 points.

Playing with the same type of hunger in her senior season, Tory Thierolf also stepped her game up. For the second straight game she scored a career-high; this time notching 16 points.

“It was nice. You can see our seniors realizing the end is near, and I think they’re trying to do everything possible out there,” Dillon said.

In overtime, Drexel mentally — and physically — ran out of steam. In the first of two overtimes, the Dragons surrendered the lead to Northeastern for the first time since the opening seconds of the game. They came back and led by three with less than 30 seconds left, but a three by the Huskies’ Kazzidy Stewart tied the game at 69 and it was off to a second overtime.

That was when the Dragons completely lost their legs. Drexel failed to make a single field goal in the second overtime, and Northeastern took the game, 78-73.

Dillon chalked up the lack of scoring to mental and physical exhaustion.

“It definitely is a sign of fatigue,” she explained. “It’s a sign of [being] worn out physically and mentally at that point. I felt we did everything in our power to give it away, and once that happened after regulation, mentally the girls were more fatigued than [physically], and once you’re mentally out of it, you’re not going to physically take advantage in any way.”

Whatever happens, Dillon has one goal that could bring them success not just this season, but heading into 2014-15.

“Finish strong,” Dillon declared. “It’s crazy to say, but our record doesn’t show what we can still do in this conference. You look at the record and you’re disappointed in it, but at the same time if we finish strong, we put ourselves in a good spot heading to the CAA tournament.”

As the seniors continue to claw and fight, knowing the end is near, Dillon would like to see the rest of the team support each other as they are running out of time.

“As much as we want it for them, I want them to want it for each other. Wanting to finish strong for the seniors, for themselves to carry over into the offseason, and it’s about the program and it can’t be about just one season.”

The Dragons improved their conference standing Feb. 27 at the DAC, as the team defeated the visiting University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks by a score of 56-45.

Drexel is now in the home stretch of the schedule, heading into the CAA tournament. The Dragons start their final week of the regular season with one last road game against Hofstra University on Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m.

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Sophomore guard Meghan Creighton looks for an open teammate during Drexel’s 69-58 loss to James Madison University Feb. 16 at the DAC. The Dragons have dropped two straight games and their overall record now sits at 12-13 on the season.

Despite returning home for two games, the Drexel women’s basketball team was swept to fall below .500. Drexel (12-13, 7-5 Colonial Athletic Association) lost to James Madison University and the University of Delaware Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, respectively.

Hosting the first-place Dukes on Sunday, the Dragons were looking for revenge following a 27-point loss last month in Harrisonburg, Va. Returning to their home court following a successful road trip, the Dragons made a game of it late, but the deficit was too much. James Madison used a few big runs to complete the season sweep of Drexel, 69-58.

The game started off tight, but midway through the first half James Madison turned it up offensively while Drexel went cold. The Dukes scored 13 straight points, exploding for a 16-1 run to pull in front, 29-11. The Dragons went nearly nine minutes without scoring a point and more than 10 minutes without a field goal.

Things would get better for Drexel, as the team rallied before halftime to reduce the deficit to single digits. Redshirt junior forward Jamilia Thompson added six quick points off the bench in the post to lead a 13-2 run and get Drexel within seven. It was a 34-26 game going into halftime.

Drexel kept its foot on the pedal coming out of the locker room and inched even closer to the Dukes, who were previously — and remain — undefeated in conference play. The Dragons made it a four-point ballgame after senior guard Fiona Flanagan converted a layup to make it 40-36. It remained tight as the two teams traded baskets until about halfway through the second half after a layup from sophomore guard Carrie Alexander.

From there, it was all downhill for Drexel. The Dukes went on a 22-12 run and the lead swelled to 14; the Dragons never got back in the game. James Madison redshirt sophomore guard Jazmon Gwathmey led all scorers with 16 points. Flanagan led Drexel with 14.

In an attempt to bounce back from the defeat, Drexel hosted Delaware on Tuesday. Again the Dragons came up short, falling to the CAA’s second-best team, 55-50.

The Delaware game was the complete opposite of Sunday’s game in terms of how Drexel lost. Once ahead by ten points, Drexel let this one slip away from a Delaware team they beat on the road less than a month ago.

Delaware had only one field goal through the first eight minutes of the game, and Drexel raced out to a 12-3 lead. Ten minutes into the game, Drexel held a double-digit lead. But the Blue Hens used a 15-4 run to turn the game around and take a 25-24 lead into halftime.

Midway through the second half, sophomore guard Rachel Pearson hit a 3-pointer to give Drexel a four-point lead, 41-37. But from there, Delaware shut down Drexel for more than five minutes offensively and the Blue Hens took a four-point lead.

Brief controversy arose when it appeared a shot from sophomore forward Joy Caracciolo was not released before the shot clock expired. The referees counted the bucket, though, and Delaware had a three-point lead with fewer than three minutes left. Delaware eventually closed out the five-point victory, handing Drexel its third straight home loss.

In the loss, sophomore guard Megan Creighton eclipsed the century mark in career 3-pointers. Her four threes gave her 103 for her career, and, as only a sophomore, has become just the ninth player in Drexel history to reach 100 career threes.

Drexel will look to pull their record back to .500 when the team travels to Northeastern University Feb. 23. The Dragons defeated the Huskies in their previous meeting at the DAC Jan. 26, 55-52. Tipoff on Sunday is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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Sophomore Meghan Creighton faces up against a defender during Drexel’s 55-52 victory over Northeastern University Jan. 26 at the DAC. The point guard scored a season-high 18 points in the Dragons’ loss to Hofstra University Feb. 2.

The women’s basketball team wrapped up its home stand with two more games to close the week. Drexel defeated The College of William & Mary Jan. 30 before falling to Hofstra University Feb. 2. It completed a stretch in which they won two of three home games to pull their record even at 10-10, with a 5-2 record in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Expecting a closer game, compared to their last meeting against the Tribe when they shot 67 percent in the second half, the Dragons leaned on their defense. They forced 15 turnovers and allowed only 18 field goals to win their 10th game of the season, 68-42.

Rachel Pearson led all scorers with 15 points for Drexel and seven Dragons picked up at least two assists, combining for 22 as a team. Head coach Denise Dillon utilized many players in the rotation and Drexel’s bench actually came close to outscoring the entire Tribe team, contributing 35 points as a supporting unit, including 13 from Tory Thierolf.

“The difference was I thought our bench was tremendous,” she explained. “I just felt our bench came out hot. I thought Tory had one of the best games of her career.”

Drexel was able to limit William & Mary to only three free-throw attempts, two of which they missed. Meanwhile, the Dragons shot a perfect eight-for-eight at the line.

Things did not go as well a few days later when Drexel hosted Hofstra Feb. 2. The Pride started out hot and held on for a 68-66 victory at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Five minutes into the game, Dillon and the Dragons found themselves in a 20-6 hole as Hofstra made seven of its first eight shot attempts of the game.

“We came out not ready to play, and they took advantage quickly,” Dillon said. “I thought our focus was poor and they jumped on us.”

They would turn things around and make it a game from there. After allowing only one missed shot to open the game, the CAA’s leading defense put up a wall and allowed only one field goal over the next 13-plus minutes. The defensive stand allowed the offense to catch back up. Meghan Creighton hit a three, part of her team-high 18 points, to cap a 19-2 run and pull Drexel in front, 25-22.

From there, the game became a back-and-forth battle. There were 15 lead changes and the game was tied 10 times, eventually coming down to a game of possessions, defense and free throw shooting. The free throw shooting burned Drexel, as they shot just 65.2 percent from the free-throw line. Hofstra, emerging victorious, shot a much better 84 percent to win the game at the DAC.

The Dragons did have a shot in the end, however. With a chance to take a lead down by one point 66-65, Abby Reddick went to the line to attempt two shots. She could only make one, and Drexel pulled even. On the other end, Krystal Luciano drove to the hoop and dropped in the game-winner to put Hofstra in front by a bucket. Creighton launched a last-chance three that was too long, meaning Drexel came up short.

“It was a battle; it was a game of possession,” Dillon said. “I just was not happy with our defense and foul shooting.”

Ultimately, Drexel’s strength let them down. The team leaned on their league-leading defense, which boasts a league-low 55.8 points allowed per game, to make the stops in the end. Drexel simply does not have the offensive fire power to expect to win while allowing nearly 70 points on the other end.

“Giving up 68 points, we’re going to struggle to beat anyone,” Dillon admitted.

Sunday’s game aside, the home stand was a rather successful one for Drexel. The Dragons used it to pull it back to .500 at 10-10, an accomplishment after starting the season 2-5. According to Dillon, they also used it to get on a bit of a roll, despite the blip at the end of the final game.

“I was happy to be home and I thought we got into a little bit of a rhythm,” Dillon said. “I was not happy with the Hofstra [game], but hopefully it keeps the girls motivated for the road trip.”

The road trip will include stops in the Carolinas, with a game versus the College of Charleston before one at University of North Carolina Wilmington. Drexel has never traveled to Charleston, S.C., but will look for similar results after beating them at home Jan. 9, 68-55. The Dragons have yet to face UNCW this season.

One thing in particular that Dillon will look for from her squad this weekend is a push in energy. She notes that plenty of bodies are getting in the game and so the effort should match their extra energy. Ten Dragons played at least eight minutes on Sunday, and nine played at least a dozen minutes.

Creighton, who led in overall production, points, rebounds and tied for assists, was the only Dragon to play more than 30 minutes.

“We’re playing with 10 players, and I feel like we should be putting more effort in on both ends of the court,” Dillon said.

Both games will take place this weekend. The Dragons and Cougars will start the weekend Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., while their tilt with the Seahawks will be a Sunday, Feb. 9, matinee at 1 p.m. Two victories, one over each, would ensure Drexel remains ahead of them and no worse than second place in the CAA standings.

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Freshman shooting guard Carrie Alexander pushes the ball up the court during Drexel’s 68-55 victory over the College of Charleston Jan. 9. After an 89-49 thrashing of The College of William & Mary, the Dragons are 2-0 in CAA play.

It has been a rocky start to the season for the Drexel women’s basketball team. Coming into this week, the Dragons have struggled to find consistency, winning and losing games in bunches.

Standing at 7-8 and now in the Colonial Athletic Association portion of the schedule, the team has had its share of ups and downs. They picked up a few quality victories at the St. John’s Chartwell’s Holiday Classic last month but surrounded it with a string of losses, both going into and coming out of the tournament.

“It’s just inconsistent play,” head coach Denise Dillon said.

A silver lining is that the team is not getting dominated in the losses. Instead, they are losing close, tight games that they often have had the chance to win. On the season, the team has suffered six losses by only seven points or fewer, but that does not make them any easier to accept.

“When you say those stats, it’s a little bit harder [to explain what has happened],” Dillon said.

One area in which the team has struggled is late in games, the time when close contests are decided. Having lost so many close ones, Dillon said she thinks the team is tightening up and playing afraid to make a mistake, which ironically leads to more mistakes.

“I feel this group has struggled down the stretch late in the last couple minutes of games,” Dillon explained. “They play with a fear of not giving the game away.”

As they transition to the second half of the schedule, CAA play, the Dragons hope to put that fear behind them. Dillon said she thinks it is one they can easily overcome as they move forward in their season.

“We’re just hoping to turn that corner,” Dillon said.

Drexel did manage to get back in the win column last week with the start of conference play. The Dragons defeated the College of Charleston 68-55 Jan. 9 for their sixth win of the season, but it was just their second at home.

Five Dragons scored nine or more points, led by Abby Redick’s 16. Meghan Creighton played another solid game and added 11 points and seven assists.

Overall, the team thrived shooting, hitting 50.9 percent of their shots from the field. That was despite only hitting four of 15 three-point attempts.

The Dragons locked down defensively as well, limiting the Cougars to just 21 team field goals on 61 attempts. CofC shot 34.4 percent overall and only received significant scoring contributions from Afreyea Tolbert, Alyssa Frye and Breanna Bolden, who scored 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“The defensive end is something we have been consistent with,” Dillon said. “No matter how much we struggled offensively, we rely on our defense and we hope to continue that.”

Their 13-point victory matched their biggest win so far this season, so there is early encouragement that conference play will be the platform for the team to “turn that corner.” According to Dillon, the tough out-of-conference schedule — during which they had their bouts of inconsistency — was used to prepare the Dragons for their CAA foes, starting with the Cougars.

“We went through the tough out-of-conference schedule to prepare for now,” Dillon said. “Conference play is the most important part of the season.”

The Dragons continued with conference play and hit the road for their first CAA road trip of the season. They faced The College of William & Mary Jan. 16 in Williamsburg, Va., and rolled the Tribe by a score of 89-49. Redick recorded the first triple-double in program history with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Drexel will look to extend its win streak to three games when they take on the University of Delaware Jan. 19 in Newark, Del.

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Senior Justin Singh winds up for a shot against junior Ryan Todd of Cornell University at the Kline & Specter Squash Center in Philadelphia Nov. 23.

Both the Drexel men and women’s squash teams fell to Princeton University this past week, more than a full week removed from their previous appearance on the court. After the long hiatus, the teams failed to capitalize on the opportunity to begin their first winning streak of the season. Each team was coming off a home victory Nov. 24 over Williams College.

The Dragons would remain at home for their pair of matches against the Princeton squash program. It was the men who first got things underway with their nine against the Tigers’ nine. Unfortunately for Drexel, it was not much of a match, as Princeton took a lopsided 9-0 decision Dec. 3.

The Dragons struggled to win any substantial amount of sets against the mighty Tigers. One highlight for Drexel, though, came from Joey Gingold. The sophomore was matched up with Princeton’s Michael LeBlanc at No. 7, and Gingold was able to take him to five sets before falling 11-4.

While Gingold was able to pick up two wins in five of his sets, the rest of Drexel struggled. The remainder of the lineup, aside from Gingold, combined for just three wins. For the Dragons, only Ibrahim Bakir at No. 1, Justin Singh at No. 2 and Nat Fry at No. 9 were able to get a set win, each in the second set of their respective matchups.

Off the court, the matchup represented a homecoming for Princeton head coach Sean Wilkinson. The former Drexel assistant is in his first season as the man in charge of Princeton’s squash program, and he picked up his second career victory as head coach on the road at his former stomping ground.

Things did not go much better for the Drexel women against the Tigers than it did for the men. They also dropped a 9-0 decision to Princeton Dec. 4 at the Kline & Specter Squash Center. Princeton’s women’s team entered the match ranked No. 4 in the country, behind only Harvard University, Trinity College and the University of Pennsylvania in the Dunlop Women’s Team Rankings.

Drexel’s women struggled against the Tigers, losing nearly each match up and down the ladder. Libby Eyre started off the day with a set victory for Princeton at No. 1, and the domination continued to Libbie Maine winning at the No. 9 position. Overall, they took 30 of the 31 sets as a team.

One Dragon, however, was able to salvage a set victory. At No. 3, Elisa Money was able win the first set against Hallie Dewey 12-10. Money would then fall in the remaining three sets by counts of 11-3, 11-5 and 11-4. No other members of Drexel’s team were able to pick up a set win.

Fortunately for Drexel, they will return to the courts quickly to try to move on from the challenging start to the week. Both the men and women face off against Harvard Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. in Cambridge, Mass. It will mark the Dragons’ first road competition since their Nov. 16 trip to Annapolis, Md., in which the men lost to the U.S. Naval Academy and shut out Georgetown University while the women blanked Johns Hopkins University.

Finally, Drexel will conclude its weekend trip through the Northeast with a match against Brown University, which will be the Drexel squash finale before winter break. Both teams square off Dec. 7 at 10 a.m.

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Both the men’s and women’s squash teams returned to the home courts for Drexel over the weekend. Unfortunately, things quickly went south, and both teams lost their first two matches Nov. 22 and 23. They both did, however, manage to salvage the final match of the weekend.

Nov. 22 was when Drexel officially opened the Kline & Specter Squash Center for the 2013-14 campaign. It was Franklin & Marshall College, however, that opened up the season with the first squash victories on Drexel’s campus for the year. The men’s team easily knocked off the Dragons by a score of 8-1, while the women were just barely topped by the Diplomats 5-4.

Drexel’s highlight that day was Mary Fung-A-Fat picking up her second victory in just as many career matches. The freshman was able to defeat Emily Caldwell at No. 2, coming from behind to win 8-11, 9-11, 15-13, 11-6, 11-5. The lone men’s win came from Justin Singh, also at No. 2.

Nov. 23’s matches against Cornell University went much like the previous day’s for Drexel, although the final scores were nearly swapped. After falling hard to F&M, the men rebounded to come within a point of topping the Big Red but still lost 5-4. Singh was among the winning Dragons, as he claimed his third straight winning decision of the season.

Things were not as tight on the scoreboard for the women, as they were beaten badly in a 9-0 defeat. Each of the nine matches was decided in straight sets, as the team struggled from the onset.

Both teams were able to pick themselves up, however, and earn victories in their final match of the weekend against Williams College. The women ended their losing skid first, having gone first against the Ephs.

The Dragons came out with a bang, picking up three straight victories, including yet another one from Fung-A-Fat. Drexel was in position to claim its first home win with a set victory from Kaitlyn Money at No. 5. The sophomore clinched the match for Drexel, and for her clutch performance she was recognized as the women’s Colonial Marble & Granite Athlete of the Week by the University’s athletic department.

The men followed the women’s lead and picked up their first victory of the weekend as well. A 4-2 start to the match was enough to carry Drexel past Williams, before they won by a score of 5-4. Freshman Nat Fry won for the third time this season, and his win at the bottom of the ladder at No. 9 secured the men’s second victory of the season.

Head coach John White had prepared his players not to be too discouraged by the first two matches of the weekend. Their focus, he thinks, was a major factor in their ability to bounce back and pick up a victory.

“Back-to-back losses are always hard to take, especially being the first two of three team matches,” he explained. “Both teams stayed focused all weekend and took it one match at a time. I have always told them that dwelling on a team’s loss can only affect you [negatively] during the next match.”

The victories for both teams were a nice way to end the weekend. It was one that left White very pleased with his team as they continue building as a program.

He was particularly impressed by the overall weekend experienced by one of his players, Michael Thompson. The freshman had lost a crucial decision against Cornell, one that White said “broke his heart.” His victory would have helped the team defeat the Red Storm, but he could not come through in a tough decision. But he was able to put it behind him and help the team win the next day after an uplifting chat with White.

“I really did not know what to think and how he would play [on Sunday],” White said. “He came out well from the start and kept his composure throughout the match. He won in four to give [us] a good start to the team match. It was a very brave and awesome performance by Michael.”

Moving forward, White said he thinks this past weekend can be a big building experience for both teams. He alluded to the extra confidence the players got from at least hanging in during their matches.

“After this weekend, anything is possible,” White said. “The goal is to continue down the same road we are now. This weekend was a big turning point for both teams. … All the hard work paid off this weekend.”

He knows there is still plenty of work ahead, but for now, it was nice to see it rewarded.

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