Garden City, NY – The #4 ranked Howard Dragons were unable to keep up with the powerful #2 ranked Nassau Lions as the home team was able to hold on for a 15-6 victory over the Dragons.
 
Nassau jumped ahead 5-0 before the Dragons first got on the board 10  minutes into the game when a great feed by Gianni Karam (Ellicott City, MD/Mount Hebron) found a cutting Nate Boone (Elkridge, MD/Howard) in the middle of the attacking zone and a shot into the bottom right corner. Howard scored a second early in the second quarter as Zane Dalpe (Belle River, ON/Saint Anne) scored a low rolling shot from a nice JT Harich (Point of Rocks, MD/Brunswick) feed.
 
Howard scored a third goal three minutes later when Bryce Ferguson (Sykesville, MD/Century) was able to stop a Nassau fast break to lead a counter attack that resulted in Boone feeding Calum Brennan (Kingsville, ON/Kingsville District) as the Dragons attempted to chip away at the Lions lead. Nassau scored the last four goals of the first half and took a 12-3 lead into the halftime intermission.
 
The Dragons scored first in the second half as a scoreless eight minutes of the third quarter was broken by a Cole Stansbury (Frederick, MD/Linganore) snipe into the top corner. Erik Harrell (Owings Mills, MD/Century) won the ensuing face-off and the Dragons were able to draw a penalty. Dalpe was able to score a second goal during the power play opportunity as the Dragons defense continued to hold down the powerful Lions offense. Nassau finally broke through with a couple of late third period goals as the Dragons trailed 14-5 after 45 minutes of play. Howard scored one more late in the fourth quarter as Tyler May (Columbia, MD/Oakland Mills) scored on an extra man opportunity.
 
Braden Chaney (Sykesville, MD/South Carroll) started a second straight game for the Dragons and put up an admirable effort despite taking his second loss of the year.
 
The Dragons regular season schedule has now concluded as they prepare for postseason play and a third game against CCBC Essex looming. Howard will go into the Region 20 tournament as the #3 seed and will take on the #2 seeded Knights on Friday, April 28 at Anne Arundel Community College with a 5 PM start time. The two teams split a pair of regular season games with the Dragons winning 12-11 in Columbia while the Knights won 18-4 in Essex.