Founded 1941 | ||
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Conference Colonial Athletic Association Location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Coach Brian Voelker (since 2009) Stadium Vidas Field(capacity: 1,500) |
The Drexel Dragons men's lacrosse team represents Drexel University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's lacrosse. Drexel currently competes as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and plays its home games at Vidas Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel made its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2014.
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History
Lacrosse was established at Drexel in 1941 under coach Maury McMains. At the time, the university was known as Drexel Institute of Technology. Drexel's first USILA All-American was Ray Greene, who after serving in World War Two transferred to Johns Hopkins, where he became a Hall of Fame midfielder. Drexel's 1947 schedule included games against Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Penn State and Penn.
Through the 1950s, highlights included Drexel reaching as high as number six in the standings in 1952, finishing the year with a five and two record. In 1958, Dick Young achieved first-team All-American honors at midfielder, as well as leading the team to an 8 and 2 record, with a win over a Lehigh team who would go on to win the "Class C" lacrosse national title the following season.
In 1967, Drexel lacrosse aligned with the Middle Atlantic Conference and in 1975 the East Coast Conference. During this era, Lynn Ferguson, a two-time All-American midfielder, was named an All-American in both football and lacrosse in the same year. Drexel reached the small college USILA tournaments in both 1972 and 1973, with records of 11-3 and 9-4, respectively. The 1972 season also included a 14 to 6 win over the innovative Morgan State Bears lacrosse team.
In 1978, Dennis Fink earned the University’s first-ever NCAA Division I All-America honor for lacrosse, was the first Drexel player to lead the nation in scoring (with 98 points) and currently remains among the all-time leader in several NCAA Lacrosse records. Fink also led Drexel to their first ECC conference title, as well as a 10 and 2 record.
Drexel would later realign with the North Atlantic Conference (1992) and the America East Conference (1997) before settling in the Colonial Athletic Association in 2002.
The 1998 men's lacrosse squad finished with twelve wins against two defeats, including a 14 to 10 defeat of top 20 Towson University, eleven straight wins to start the season and a number 19 national ranking. In 2007, Drexel lacrosse defeated University of Virginia, ranked number one at the time and the defending National Champion, Drexel's first victory over a number one ranked Division I team in any sport.
In 2008 the Dragons set a school record with 13 wins, ranking as high as 10th in the nation and reaching the Colonial Tournament finals before losing 10-9 in overtime to Hofstra, narrowly missing out on an NCAA tournament bid. In 2010, the team reached their highest ever national ranking at number 7 in the nation following a win over then number three Notre Dame, the eventual NCAA Division I tournament runner up. Drexel reached the conference finals again in 2012, after upsetting Penn State, but lost to number one ranked Massachusetts in the finals.
In 2014, Drexel scored in the third overtime as the Dragons came back from a three-goal deficit with five minutes to go in the game, to defeat Hofstra 11-10, win its first Colonial Athletic Association championship and earn their first NCAA tournament berth in lacrosse. In the first round of the tournament, the Dragons eliminated fourth seeded Penn by a score of 16-11. The highlight of the game was three consecutive goals by Drexel in a span of just over 11 seconds at the end of the first half. The Dragons moved on to the quarterfinals where they lost to Denver 15-6 at Delaware Stadium. The attendance for the game of 7,222 was the largest in Drexel lacrosse history.
Prior to 2014, Drexel had not appeared in any NCAA Lacrosse Tournaments, though the team did get invitations to the 1972 and 1973 USILA small college tournaments.
Drexel has had 44 lacrosse All-Americans since beginning the sport in 1941.
In 74 seasons, Drexel has an all-time record of 417 wins, 437 losses and 3 ties.