The 10-5 Fightin' Blue Hens will meet top seed Towson University in a game at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 5, at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Towson advanced with an 11-5 victory over Hofstra University.
UD will be looking to capture its first CAA tournament title and its first conference championship since winning the 1999 America East crown. The CAA champion earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I championship tournament.
This is the third straight year the Hens have reached the CAA championship game, falling to Towson in 2005 and Hofstra in 2006. Even with a loss in the title game, the Hens could receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
In the semifinal victory over Drexel, UD broke out from an early 2-2 with five straight goals to take control of the game.
"We played an excellent game tonight," UD Head Coach Bob Shillinglaw said. "Drexel manhandled us up here last month and they have a good offense. But we did a good job of preparing for them defensively, we were aggressive, and we created turnovers. We played much cleaner tonight and we kept our turnovers to a minimum. We always play hard but we don't always put four quarters together. Tonight we did."
Adam Zuder-Havens, the team's leading scorer, led the attack with four goals and an assist while Kevin Kaminski scored twice, and Alex Smith and Vincent Giordano both recorded a goal and an assist.
Smith, a two-time All-America who holds the NCAA career face-off record and has led the nation in the category each of the last three seasons, won 13 of 22 face-offs and scooped up seven ground balls.
Defensively, UD goalkeeper Tommy Scherr recorded 12 saves and the Hens held CAA scoring leader Andrew Chapman to just one goal and one assist on 16 shots on goal. Drexel, which held a 46-33 advantage in shots, got two goals from Greg Casey.
