FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team used a five-goal run in the second half to surge past visiting Drexel, 8-7, in Colonial Athletic Association action on Saturday afternoon. Charlie Schnider racked up six points for the Stags, and TJ Neubauer netted a hat trick before a crowd of 1,321 at Rafferty Stadium and a nationwide audience watching on ESPN3.
“I give credit to Drexel; they came out ready to play” said Head Coach Andy Copelan. “But we're a resilient group, and we chipped away one play at a time. We're still a work in progress, but I'm proud of our guys for an outstanding effort in the second half.”
With their second straight one-goal victory, the Stags improve to 2-0 in the CAA as a part of a 6-6 overall tally. Drexel falls to 0-2 in league play and 4-7 on the year.
Schnider matched a pair of career highs this afternoon with five assists and six total points. The senior leads the CAA with 24 assists (2.00 per game) and slots fifth in the Association with 2.67 points per contest.
Schnider facilitated two of Neubauer's three goals as the senior co-captain ran his season total to 26 goals. Neubauer also claimed sole possession of fourth place on the Stags' all-time list with 104 tallies. He is two goals behind J.T Groarke '99 for third on the career ledger.
Reigning CAA Rookie of the Week Colin Burke added two goals – improving his CAA leading total to 31 – and dished out an assist. The freshman is also the CAA's point leader with 43 following today's effort. Burke has scored at least two points with at least one goal in all 12 games this season.
Rounding out the Fairfield scoring on the day were Drew Murray with two goals and Charlie Horning with one assist.
In the midfield, Neubauer and Horning led the effort with six ground balls. Three of Neubauer's grabs came on the draw, where Will Fox went 5-of-12 and Joe DeLasho added a 2-of-6 day. Joe Guidarelli also collected a pair of ground balls for the Stags.
Tyler Behring helmed the cage and made seven saves to earn the win. He also picked up four ground balls and had a pair of caused turnovers. Guidarelli also caused two turnovers on the defensive end.
Frank Fusco and Joe Rainoldi both scored two goals for Drexel with single tallies coming from Will Manganiello, Jordan Cunningham and Hank Brown. Jimmy Joe Granito made eight saves in goal for the Dragons.
Drexel struck first with a marker less than 90 seconds into the game, and both defenses that held pat until the final minutes of the first quarter. After Fusco rattled the cage to extend the Dragons' lead to 2-0, Fairfield got on the board as Neubauer fired and beat the buzzer with a goal as the period expired.
Two quick Drexel goals in the second quarter extended the lead to 4-1 before Schnider converted a feed from Burke to trim the margin. However, the Dragons closed the first-half scoring on a transition goal from Fusco the snuck past Behring to run the score to 5-2 heading into the intermission.
It appeared that Drexel maintained its momentum into the third quarter with a goal at 14:38 in the period, but that marker was the starting point of a more than 23-minute drought for the Dragons as Fairfield surged into the lead.
Murray provided the first answer at 12:48 in the third and Neubauer once again scored in the final seconds of a period as the Stags headed into the fourth quarter facing a 6-4 deficit.
Fairfield earned an extra-man opportunity early in the fourth frame, and Murray struck again to cut the deficit 6-5 with 13:26 to play. The equalizer then came from the stick of Burke, who worked his way in front of the net and beat Granito to even the score at 6-6. Just 75 seconds later, the Stags took advantage of another man-up chance as Burke cashed in a feed from Schnider to stake Fairfield to its first lead of the day at 7-6.
Fairfield went 2-for-4 on its extra-man opportunities, converting both of its 60-second chances and coming up empty on two 30-second tries.
Drexel leveled the score at 7-7 on Rainoldi's second goal of the day with 6:16 to play, and the Dragons came away with the ensuing faceoff. However, Fairfield forced a turnover to reclaim possession, and Neubauer rattled the cage with the marker that stood as the game-winner with 3:20 to play.
The visitors from Drexel would once again win the faceoff, but Matt Borda scooped up an errant pass as the Stags cleared the ball and looked to run out the clock. Though a 30-second clock violation gave the Dragons a final possession in the closing the seconds, the Fairfield defense locked down as time expired on an 8-7 victory.
The CAA slate reaches the halfway point next Saturday, April 16, as the Stags host Massachusetts (4-6, 0-2 CAA) at 1 p.m. for Senior Day on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. Fairfield will honor its six-member Class of 2016 prior to faceoff with the Minutemen.
