The 40 Year Wait...

Wow Folks! If that is not the understatement of the year... Did you tune-in and watch the NCAA Selection Show? Did you doubt? Did you waiver in your belief? Did you let the slightest little bit of negativity creep between your toes as they went from bracket to bracket... to bracket... and to bracket... the last bracket... the last chance... before your Drexel Dragons were finally announced?!? Wow, what an absolute delight to hear those words... "And our final first round match-up is here, welcome to the tournament Brown and DREXEL!"

I would be remiss if I did not say this folks... "Let's Dance!"

Go on Donna, sing it for us:
(If you're new to Donna Summer, stay with...after a minute and a half it catches on and you will start tapping your toes and before you know it - BAM, Flash Mob Dance Scene...we just had one in the office with Academics...)

Yea, will you be my Mr. Right?
Can you fill my appetite?
I can be sure that you're the one for me
But all that I ask is that you dance with me
Dance with me, dance with me, yeah yeah

So let's dance, the last dance
Let's dance, the last dance
Let's dance, the last dance tonight


Gotta love that tune, no? As our sports information assistant, Sam Angell, said, "We waited 40 years, what's another few minutes at that point?" Wow Sam! The eruption of emotion was nothing shy of volcanic...the mood, electric....the faces, ecstatic... 40 years in the making and literally the last name called, simply awesome my friends!

(Watch it for yourself, Asst. Coach Cory Roberston caught all of it... Drexel Men's Soccer NCAA Selection Show)

Tournament play is fickle, isn't it? For those that were there, they know how much we did through the Hofstra game to win it. However, when your thoughts are dominated by the premise "survive and advance," you tend to get tight in the wrong moments. Soccer is a silly game. It is played for 90 minutes, the ball is out of play for nearly a third of that time, and then the game can get dumbed down to whether you are good or poor in 6 or 8 moments; albeit in front of the goal you are attacking or the one you are defending.

As our hearts were torn out while the penalties played out, I kept coming back to the fact that there were enough moments prior to then - in the 90 minutes of regulation and the 20 of over-time. Post-game, I told our team this. We did enough through run of play that you can never point to one moment, it is the collection of moments/opportunities that we created and we just were not good enough in those moments. "Good Season"..."Good try Coach"..."Next year"... Some of what I heard post-game Friday night...really? You think this over already? I don't...

Move ahead 3 days...after the longest 63 hours and 44 minutes of our lives, into the best moment yet as a Dragon! I couldn't be more pleased as the coach of this group. I played it out all weekend long with Associate AD, Nick Gannon (did I say Associate...my bad, I meant Deputy Director), my wife, my parents, my assistants...and anyone that would listen! We talked and talked it through... "They can't leave us out, can they? This team has too much, right?" With the help of trusty stat-man, Sam Angell, Nick put the case together for our body of work:

12-3-3 overall, 8-1-1 in the CAA...
Regular Season Championship...
6-0-2 in our last eight games...
Road Warriors: 7-2-1 on the road (5-0 in the CAA)...
Wins over tournament teams...
Top 30 RPI...

"How can they leave us out?" I went to bed Sunday night optimistic and fought my negative-self all day long on Monday. I just kept saying, they have to give this team an opportunity, they can't deny our body of work... Awesome to watch the players responses, to see the nerves build and then to let all that tension go!

So it is time to open a new page in Drexel Men's Soccer History...first time playing Brown University...first time hosting an NCAA Tournament game in any sport at Drexel ...first time in 40 years participating in the College Cup...

I hope you can make it out to Vidas and be a part of this season with us...we want a 1,000 people in those stands, NCAA College Cup Soccer is in Philly folks! If you cannot get out, watch it live web-stream on our website www.drexeldragons.com Game time is 4 pm at Vidas Athletic Complex (43rd & Powelton Avenue), but the memory will last forever!

I could not be prouder to say, I AM A DRAGON!

Regards,
Doug