FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse heads to Philadelphia on Saturday to challenge the reigning Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Champion Drexel Dragons. Opening faceoff on Vidas Field is slated for 1 p.m. live on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
LAST TIME OUT
Faced with a 10-8 deficit with 10:19 to play in last Saturday's CAA opener, Fairfield scored the game's final four goals to knock off visiting Hofstra, 12-10, on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium.
Mike Drake had a six-point day, punctuated by scoring the game-winning goal with 1:21 to play, in the CAA triumph.
Drake's six points mark a career high for the graduate student transfer from Notre Dame, who finished with three goals and three assists.
Kyle Borda added a three-point day with two goals and an assist, and the duo of
Taylor Strough and
Jack McKenna scored two goals apiece.
After allowing seven goals in the first 27 minutes of the game, the defensive unit ceded only three goals in the second half.
Braden Lynch headed that effort on close defense with four ground balls and four caused turnovers, and
Matt Rice has three caused turnovers and five grounders as an SSDM.
James Corasaniti made six saves to notch the win in the cage.
THIRTY GOAL DUO
Jack McKenna and
Taylor Strough lead the Stags with 31 and 30 goals, respectively. Entering the weekend, they are one of four sets of teammates in the nation with 30+ goals apiece, joining duos from Duke (Brennan O'Neill and Dyson Williams), Jacksonville (Jacob Greiner and Max Waldbaum) and Michigan (Josh Zawada and Michael Boehm).
McKenna and Strough are also Fairfield's first 30-goal duo since Colin Burke scored 46 goals and TJ Neubauer netted 31 in the 2016 campaign.
THE DREXEL UNIVERSITY DRAGONS
Drexel started CAA play with a 13-12 loss to visiting Towson to fall to 4-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference. The Dragons have also lost to UMBC, Lafayette, Villanova and Robert Morris with wins over Albany, LIU, Saint Joseph's and Marquette.
Jacksonville transfer Max Semple leads the Dragons with 23 goals, while Sean Donnelly has racked up 18 goals and 11 assists for a team-leading 29 points. A platoon of faceoff men have aggregated a .340 win percentage on the draw.
Ross Blumenthal has started six games in the cage, posting an 11.99 goals-against average and a .563 save percentage.
Collectively, the Dragons rank third in the CAA in scoring offense with 12.22 goals per game while slotting fifth defensively with 12.78 goals allowed per contest.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Drexel leads 7-2 in an all-time series that began in 1993 when the Stags entered the varsity ranks. The clubs met annually for 1993-95 and revived the series when Fairfield joined the CAA beginning in the 2015 campaign.
UP NEXT
The Stags play their second and final CAA road game next Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. opening faceoff at UMass.
Action returns to Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium on Saturday, April 23 for a 3:30 p.m. visit from Towson.
