Feb. 1, 2008

Courtesy of CAA Athletics

RICHMOND, Va. - Drexel, which shared the CAA regular-season crown last season, was narrowly picked to capture the CAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 2008 according to a vote of the league's seven head coaches.

The Dragons, ranked No. 18 in the Inside Lacrosse/Faceoff Yearbook preseason poll, received three first-place votes and a total of 33 points, just one better than Towson's total of 32.  The Tigers, ranked No. 13 by Inside Lacrosse in the preseason, also logged three first-place votes.  Defending conference champion Delaware, ranked 14th by Inside Lacrosse, picked up the remaining first-place vote and was third in the poll with 27 points.  Inside Lacrosse's preseason No. 19 team, Hofstra earned 22 points to finish fourth in the voting, and was followed by Villanova, Sacred Heart and Robert Morris.

Drexel returns its top four scorers - senior Andrew Chapman, juniors Ron Garling and Jon Van Houten and sophomore Colin Ambler in 2008 after going 11-5 in 2007, its best season since finishing 12-2 in 1998.  Chapman, an all-league performer in 2007, led the league with 53 points on 42 goals and 11 assists in 16 games last season.  Ambler, last year's CAA Rookie of the Year, scored 22 goals and had 13 assists. Defensively, the Dragons return all-league goalkeeper Bruce Bickford who allowed a goals-against average of 7.33 in 2007.

Towson returns three of its top four scorers from 2007 in senior Jonathan Engelke, junior Randall Cooper and senior Brian Vetter.  Vetter finished his junior season with 15 goals and 10 assists helping his team to a share of the regular season CAA crown, while earning himself Second Team all-league honors.  The Tigers also return senior goalkeeper Matt Antol, another Second Team selection, logged a 55 percent save percentage in 16 games last season.

Delaware, which advanced to their first-ever trip to the NCAA Final Four in 2007, will be counting on All-Rookie team honoree sophomore Curtis Dickson who scored 21 goals and passed out 7 assists last season.  The Blue Hens will also welcome back three-time All-CAA attackman senior Cam Howard who missed all but two games last season with an injury.  Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Tom Scherr and senior defender Evan Crowther-Washburn also return to anchor a solid defense which allowed just over eight goals a game in 2007.

The CAA Men's Lacrosse Championships are slated to get underway April 30 with semifinal action, as the title contest is slated for May 3.

2008 CAA MEN'S LACROSSE PRESEASON COACHES POLL

Team (first-place votes)                   Points

1.  Drexel (3)                                         33

2.  Towson (3)                                      32

3.  Delaware (1)                                   27

4.  Hofstra                                             22

5.  Villanova                                          16

6.  Sacred Heart                                   11