Drexel season ends in another conference semifinal heartbreak

Conference semifinals have been a thorn in the side of the Drexel men’s soccer program in recent years and that trend continued on Sunday afternoon with a 2-0 loss to UNC Wilmington at home.

The Dragons would’ve hosted the CAA final this weekend after top seed Elon was upset by Hofstra but they weren’t able to overcome a spirited Seahawks display that held a Dragons attack fresh off a five-goal outing to just one shot on goal.

Riding the momentum of a penalty shootout win over third seed Monmouth on Drexel’s home turf on Thursday, sixth seed UNC Wilmington was able to score a pair of goals late in the second half and cling to a clean sheet in registering their first road win of the season.

“Hats off to UNC Wilmington,” first-year Drexel head coach David Castellanos said. “They’ve been in Philly for a few days and they’ve been working their tail off. They took advantage of their opportunities and we didn’t play that great today.”

The devastating loss marked the end of the college careers for grad students Dominick Bachstein, Patrick Short, Colin Davis and Alessandro Capogna and a number of senior contributors, including Carles Aliberch, Giancarlo Vaccaro and Ori Arzi. Short was named the co-Midfielder of the Year in the conference and he and Bachstein were both included on the conference Best XI.

“They were part of that class that took a chance on us,” Castellanos, a former assistant who returned as head coach after a year at Chestnut Hill College, said of his departing players. “They left their mark and they left a good footprint. Drexel soccer is in a better space than when they walked into it and for me that means a ton, but my heart breaks for them. I thought this was going to be the class to get through.”

The Dragons were knocked out last season in the quarterfinals on penalties after three straight semifinal losses from 2020-2022. The program’s last conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2013, which was also the last time they made the conference final.