Drexel Men's Lacrosse Shocks Top-Ranked Virginia, 11-10
2/18/2007 5:20:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Charlottesville, Va.- Redshirt freshman Colin Ambler (Abington, Pa./Abington) scored two goals in the last ten seconds of the game as Drexel opened the 2007 season with a stunning 11-10 victory over top-ranked Virginia. The Cavaliers, the defending national champions, had won 17 straight games and 19 in a row at home. It was the first time in school history that a Drexel team has defeated the top-ranked team in the nation in any sport.
Virginia seemed poised for the victory after Ben Rubeor scored a man-up goal in the fourth quarter to give the Cavaliers a 9-7 lead. The Dragons rebounded as they took the ensuing face-off and scored a man-down goal as Kevin Dart (Fairfax, Va./Robinson) beat Cavaliers' goalie Kip Turner. Freshman Greg Casey (Glenside, Pa./La Salle) tied the score at 9-9 at 10:32 of the fourth quarter with his second goal of the game.
Virginia's Danny Glading put the Cavaliers back on top, 10-9, with 6:43 remaining. Virginia controlled the ball as the clock ticked away until a groundball by Adam Crystal (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) on a rebound gave the Dragons possession as Drexel took a timeout with just 16 seconds remaining. Junior transfer Andrew Chapman (Toronto, Ontario/Oliver Mowat) found Ambler on the left side with a pass that Ambler deposited in the net to knot the score at 10-10 with just 10 seconds remaining. The game appeared to be heading to overtime when freshman Zak Fisher (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) won the face-off and fed Ambler who deposited the game winner with just three seconds on the clock.
Virginia led 6-3 at halftime as the Cavaliers doubled Drexel's scoring in each of the first two periods. The Dragons responded with eight goals on 14 second-half shots to oust the top-ranked Cavaliers. For the game, Virginia held a 46-24 advantage in shots though the Dragons won 13-of-22 face-offs, including four of the final five.
Rubeor led Virginia with four goals and four assists while Chapman paced Drexel with three goals and one assist. Bruce Bickford (Providence, R.I./Moses Brown) made 17 saves in the cage for the Dragons while the Turner stopped six Drexel shots.
The Dragons return to the field on Saturday at Lehigh. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
Scoring Summary
D 2-1-4-4---11
V 4-2-2-2---10
Individual Scoring
Drexel: Andrew Chapman 3-1, Colin Ambler 2-1, Greg Casey 2-1, Kevin Dart 1-1, Mike Filippone 1-1, Jon Van Houten 1-1, Greg Dougherty 1-0, Zak Fisher 0-1.
Saves: Bruce Bickford 17.
Virginia: Ben Rubeor 4-4, Garrett Billings 3-1, Danny Glading 2-1, Brian Carroll 1-1, Drew Thompson 0-1.
Saves: Kip Turner 6.
Shots: D 24, V 46
Groundballs: D 37, V 43
Face-offs: D 13, V 9.
Extra-man scoring: D 1-3, V 2-9.
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