University of Delaware Athletics
University of Delaware
Drexel
Ticket Punched: Blue Hens Secure CAA Tournament Bid With 17-8 Thumping of Drexel
4/28/2018 12:06:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
NEWARK, Del. – Entering the final weekend of CAA play, there were nine different tie-breaker scenarios with only one of the four spots in the CAA Tournament secured.
The University of Delaware men's lacrosse team knew one thing. A win over rival Drexel and it didn't have to worry about any tie-breaker scenarios.
The Blue Hens answered that bell in emphatic fashion, thumping the Dragons, 17-8, the biggest margin of victory in a CAA game since 2012 (St. Joseph's, 16-6) for Delaware. The Blue Hens will now be the #2 or #3 seed in next weekend's CAA Tournament at UMass. A Towson win on Saturday makes Delaware the #3, a Fairfield win makes Delaware the #2 seed, that game is scheduled for 11 a.m.
It is the first CAA Tournament berth for the Blue Hens since 2014.
“I can't say enough about this group of the guys and the amount of work they've put in this year. We treated tonight like an extension of the CAA Tournament and they locked in and focused all week long,” Head Coach Ben DeLuca said. “The seniors were phenomenal all week and really brought a sense of urgency and leadership to the rest of the team and set the tone that allowed us to have the type of night we had tonight.”
Senior captain Will Hirschmann put together the best night of his career with seven goals and an assist, marking the most goals by a Blue Hen since Curtis Dickson on March 6, 2010 (eight goals against Albany). The Annapolis, Md. native entered this year with 28 career goals and now has 25 this year alone.
Sophomore Charlie Kitchen continued his outstanding play with five goals and an assist on the night. He has now scored in 16 straight and 27 of his 28 career games. In five CAA games this year, Kitchen had 17 goals and five assists, tops in the conference. Junior Joe Eisele was the third Blue Hen with a hat trick, finishing with three goals and an assist on the night.
At the X, junior Jake Hervada finished 14-of-26, grabbed six groundballs and fired home his first goal of the season. Defensively, it was second fewest goals allowed all year by the Blue Hens and third time in four games that Delaware held the opposition to single digit goals. Sophomore Matt DeLuca continued his outstanding play with nine saves on the night.
“We weren't ready to stop playing with each other. We kept telling each all week longer that we wanted more lacrosse together, we weren't ready to stop fighting and I think that's what led to our play tonight,” Hirschmann said.
After the teams traded possessions back and forth, Hirschmann got the scoring started with a goal off a nice dish from Kitchen. Six minutes later, Kitchen got his first of the day as the Blue Hens grabbed a 1-0 lead. Drexel responded with a goal of their own, but Kitchen and Eisele found the back of the net to extend the Delaware advantage to 4-1.
Two more from Hirschmann and two more from Kitchen in the final 10 minutes of the first half sent the Blue Hens into the break with an 8-3 cushion.
Drexel would grab momentum to start the second half with back-to-back goals to make it an 8-5 game with under six minutes to play in the third quarter.
And that's when the flood gates opened.
Delaware would string together seven unanswered in a span of nine minutes to blow the game wide open and take a 15-5 lead.
The teams would trade goals down the stretch as the Blue Hens would celebrate their first victory over Drexel in the past seven meetings (last win came in 2011).
