PHILADELPHIA—Drexel's Mathias Ebbesen scored a pair of second half goals, erasing an early deficit, holding off visiting NJIT, for a 2-1 victory Saturday evening in men's soccer non-conference action at Vidas Field.

NJIT, off to a strong start in 2018, suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 4-1-0 while the Dragons remain undefeated, moving to 4-0-1.

 "We had a great first half and deserved the goal we got," third-year head coach Fernando Barboto added.  "In the second half, we took in a lot of pressure and it seemed as if the heat from our mid-day match on Wednesday, hampered us a bit.  We didn't deal with it well and gave up some unnecessary fouls that turned into goals off set pieces.  We have to learn from these second half mistakes and improve."

NJIT scored in the 11^th minute on a penalty kick by redshirt sophomore Rene White.  A foul was drawn by NJIT's graduate student Jack Flanagan after splitting two defenders.  The goal was White's team-leading sixth of the season and fourth in the last two matches.  The forward scored his first career hat trick in NJIT's 3-2 come-from-behind win over Saint Francis U on Wednesday.

Drexel tallied its first goal of the match in the 65^th minute as Kwesi Allen beat two Highlander defenders into the box and was dragged down from behind, earning a penalty kick.  Ebbesen took the penalty kick, striking his shot left as Highlander keeper Victor Pujades dove to the opposite direction.

The Dragons doubled the score in the 75^th minute on a free kick by Ebbsesn from 20 yards out on the right side of the box.  Ebbsesn curled the shot just inside the upper left corner, breaking the tie and scoring the eventual game-winner.

In a hard-fought physical match, Drexel fired off seven shots in the second half and finished the match with 11.  NJIT posted three shots in the first half and four in the second, tallying seven total shots in 90 minutes.

White combined for four shots (two on goal) while Victor Gomez posted two shots.

NJIT's Pujades notched one save while Drexel's Cameraon Sanders stopping one Highlander shot.

The Highlanders will return to action and visit St. Francis Brooklyn on September 12 at 3pm.

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