May 10, 2021

Dear Students and Colleagues,

This historic year for Drexel Athletics continues to demonstrate the talent, grit and determination of our student-athletes, and we would like to congratulate our men's and women's lacrosse teams on their berths in this year's NCAA tournament.

Coming off Saturday's thrilling 15-11 victory over Hofstra, Coach Brian Voelker and the newly crowned CAA Champion men's team will look to continue their nine-game winning streak in their opening round match-up against Notre Dame on Saturday, May 15, at 5 p.m. ET. Ranked #8 in the USILA Coaches Poll and carrying a 10-2 record, our Dragons are excited for this opportunity to showcase their skills on the national stage live on ESPNU.

Despite a heartbreaking double overtime loss to James Madison in Sunday's CAA championship game, our women's lacrosse team have nonetheless earned the right to defend their IWLCA poll #10 ranking in the first round of the NCAA Championships against Rutgers on Friday, May 14, at 4 p.m. ET. This year marks the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history for the women's team, and the squad, under the guidance of Coach Jill Batcheller, looks to continue their historic run live on ESPN+.

This past weekend also saw our crew team regain their status among the nation's elite rowers by winning the overall points crown in this year's Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta. The landmark victory marks the team's seventh points title in the last eight contests. Meanwhile, the women's team continued to build upon their own legacy of success by scoring a win in the varsity heavyweight eight race, their second in the last four contests. The Dragons were two seconds faster than Princeton.

And finally, the Drexel softball team swept Towson this past weekend and won the CAA North Division regular-season championship. The Dragons will enter the CAA Championships as the second seed and will face Elon on Wednesday afternoon. The team is now 28-10 and finished the year 13-5 in CAA play.

Our Dragons continue to extend their commitment of excellence in the classroom to the fields, the waters, and the courts. On behalf of the entire Drexel community, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate our coaches, student-athletes, Director of Athletics Eric Zillmer and Deputy Director of Athletics Nick Gannon for all that they have been able to accomplish over the past year. Especially considering the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic and all of the obstacles they have been forced to navigate along the way, their achievements are nothing short of extraordinary, and we thank them for all that they have done to inspire our University.

Go Dragons!

Sincerely,

John Fry
President

Subir Sahu, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Success