PHILADELPHIA — The Columbia men's soccer team surrendered three goals and played the final 23 minutes a man down in a non-conference loss to Drexel, 3-0, Tuesday night at Vidas Field.

"It was a tough turnaround after the LIU game both physically and emotionally to then travel to Philly to play a solid and well-coached Drexel team," Columbia head coach Kevin Anderson said. "We fought to get ourselves on the ball and deny chances. Without making excuses for ourselves or taking anything away from our opponent, we fell to some hard calls on the night that certainly did not help our cause."
 
Drexel (3-2-3) put the first tally on the scoreboard from the penalty spot in the 39th minute. Max Gonzalez was whistled for a foul by referee Kasra Oskooii when a Drexel attacker leaped across his outstretched foot after Gonzalez had cleared the ball out of the box. Daniel Nesseler stepped up and converted from 12 yards to give the Dragons the lead.
 
Prior to the goal, Columbia (1-4-1) had done well to limit Drexel to shots from distance that didn't threaten Michael Collodi's goal. Joao Lima corralled a bouncing ball in the box during the early stages and put a shot on target that went straight to Drexel keeper Alessandro Capogna.  Cy Sokolowski also had two looks at goal during the half, the first of which was a hard shot that was blocked away and another that sailed high of the near corner.
 
The home side doubled the lead three minutes into the second half when Joey Martini's corner was headed in by Antonio Illuminato. Twenty minutes later, with the game still within reach, Ryan Wallace was issued his second yellow card of the match to put the Lions at a nearly insurmountable disadvantage.
 
Despite the odds, Columbia pressed on and sent men forward in the later stages. Although Collodi wound up with a season-high eight saves on the night, a third goal crossed his line in the 78th minute, leaving no doubt about the final outcome.
 
Columbia has one more non-conference match on its slate before beginning the Ivy League portion of the schedule. The Lions will visit Iona on Saturday in New Rochelle for an 11 a.m. kickoff at Mazzella Field.

"We now have three days between games and will need to be ready for another tough opponent in Iona on Saturday."
 
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