March 24, 2007
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Freshman Steve Serling came up with his first career hat trick to keep Lafayette's victory hopes alive, but a fourth-quarter Drexel push led the Dragons past Lafayette, 9-6, on Saturday afternoon in the City of Brotherly Love.
The back-and-forth affair featured four ties and three lead changes, but the Leopards (1-7) were unable to capitalize in the fourth. Drexel (5-3) peppered Lafayette keeper Jeff Canfield with a monster 50 shots, allowing him to establish a season-high 17 saves on the afternoon.
Three straight Lafayette goals in to start the second quarter, one each from senior Trevor Ortolano (12:19), junior Mike Meirowitz (7:11) and sophomore Porter Curran (5:05) handed the Leopards a 3-1 advantage towards the end of the half. Drexel's Ron Garling snuck his first goal of the day in with two seconds remaining in the half to make it a one-goal (3-2) game at the break.
Drexel opened the second half with the game-tying goal just under five minutes in, but the first of Serling's three goals put Lafayette back in front eight minutes later. Again the Dragons stole another last-second goal with one tick on the clock, leveling the score at 4-all at the end of the third period.
A flurry of seven goals came in the game-deciding fourth quarter, but it was Drexel picking up five of them to secure the come-from-behind win. Serling netted his second of the day two and a half minutes into the action, putting Lafayette back on top by a 5-4 edge. Drexel quickly answered under a minute later to knot the score again at 5-5 and proceeded to score the next two goals and take a 7-5 lead.
Serling ended the Drexel run with his third and final goal on the day with 6:31 to play. However, the Dragons went on to net a pair of goals within an 18-second stretch to go ahead 9-6 with 2:17 on the clock.
On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore Alex Heller and junior Peter VanderDrift led the way with five and four ground balls, respectively.
Next to Serling's three points, Ortolano managed a goal and an assist for two points.
Lafayette looks to get back on track when the team battles archrival Lehigh on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa.
