Back on Track!

Well, I seem to have woken up from my coma finally and gotten around to putting up a post.  I have decided to take a day off from "The long defeat" (aka my job search for the past few months) and get back to news on the boys at Drexel.  Let's start with what I missed:

George Mason - After a sleeper of a first half, the boys got right to work at the start of the second half.  Malcolm LeBourne got us going early by tucking away two fast break goals in the first 6 minutes.  "The Nate's" followed suit and each tucked in a goal of their own later on.  The fans that braved the rain at Vidas were rewarded not only with goals but with a plethora of opportunities to rip on the opposing team.  The dreadful display of 'non-goalkeeping' by the Mason keeper brings back memories of Wade Gerhardt's fondness for some of the goalkeepers we used to have on the team.  I believe the phrase was "I think putting a trash can in the middle of the goal would produce more saves." - or something along those lines...  Mason did snag a goal of their own and put us under some late game pressure, but hell if we can rip a back-four apart like that, we can afford to be a little shaky on defense for a while.  After dropping the first two CAA games to William & Mary and UNC Wilmington Drexel needed a win bad to stay on track for making the playoffs and the 4-1 win was exactly the re-invigoration that the team and its fans needed.

Man of the Match:  Malcolm LeBourne.  The goals he scores may look nice, but unfortunately his celebrations look more like the first week of eliminations on Dancing with the Stars.  
"Poop Squad Player of the Game":  Mason keeper, Sean Cote.  Great job on the halftime warm-up routine.      
Official game recap and box score from drexeldragons.com.


Towson - Shootout!  I would have loved to make it down to Towson for this.  Either the CAA has recently received an economic stimulus of offensive talent or England goalkeeper Robert Green has been feverishly producing illegitimate offspring and sending them to live in Towson Maryland for the past 18 years.  Drexel won the game 4-3 and just like last year (when Drexel won 6-5 at home... yeah 6-5) the Tiger goalkeeper's inability to make a single save on the night was what lost the game for his team.  A familiar assortment of Drexel goalscorers made the difference for the Dragons.  Once again "The Nate's" teamed up to grab a pair of goals & freshman sensation Kenny Tribbet grabbed a pair himself, including the game winner.  John Carroll picked up 2 assists as well, good stuff from my favorite sweaty little Italian.  After Sunday's game, Drexel is back on form sitting at 2-2 in the CAA.
Man of the Match:  Gotta be freshman Kenny Tribbet, if he keeps going at this pace he'll rack up more career points than Ken Tribbet (now Drexel Basketball alum).
"Poop Squad Player of the Game":  Gotta be Towson keeper Angelo Viteritti, check out familytree.com you might find a link to the Green family in England.
Tougue Twisting game recap and box score on drexeldragons.com

Awards! Hurray:  Nate Baker & Ken Tribbet got themselves into the spotlight after two solid performances each this past week.  Drexel Athletics highlighted the awards for both on the website (Link)-  "Baker has been named Soccer Six Player of the Week and Colonial Athletic Assiciation Co-Player of the Week. Tribbett was named CAA Rookie of the Week, selected for the College Soccer News National Team of the Week and was also selected for the Soccer Six weekly Honor Roll.  Both players contributed two goals and an assist on the week to help the Dragons beat George Mason, 4-1, at home and Towson 4-3 on the road."  I'm done saying anything else about Tribbet because it's starting to sound too much like a man crush on my part.  I will say this... if the U.S. National Team had a striker with the same simple talent that Baker has (aka run fast down the field and put the ball in the net)  maybe we would have been able to beat Ghana in the World Cup or even Colombia yesterday (instead of tieing 0-0).  Drexel has fallen into a luxury of goalscoring capability recently and Nate Baker has been one of the key components in that. 

Back to the future:  Drexel now sitting on 2-2 in the CAA and playing pretty well, at least offensively, heads down to Delaware tonight for a 7:00pm game and is looking to complete the turn around to 3-2 in the CAA.