Drexel

Valerie Garfield had a vision 18 years ago that someday - she wasn't sure when - she would own the house one door away from her mother's on South 46th Street. That dream became a reality Jan. 30. The house, which she had been renting for several years, was hers at last. "Look at what God did!" exclaimed Garfield, 52. To which her daughter, Kimberly Johnson, 23, added: "It's about time she got this house. It was really stressing her out. " With assistance from a relaunched city program called Home Buy Now and her longtime employer, the University of Pennsylvania, Garfield was able to buy the house for $50,000, cover closing costs, and have enough left over to pay for some much-needed improvements.

He was told when the season began not to even bother coming out for the team. He decided to walk on, anyway. No one gave him much of a chance, least of all Drexel, which didn't even list him on its preseason roster. So yesterday was sweet redemption for Chris Kohles. The 6-foot-6 junior forward from Abington High picked up a crucial offensive rebound and scored what proved to be the winning basket as Drexel beat Northeastern, 71-64, to go 20-3 overall, 10-1 in the North Atlantic Conference.

Who: Drexel (2-0) at Florida Gulf Coast (1-0) When: 7 o'clock Where: Alico Arena, Fort Myers, Fla. TV/Radio: None/WNTP (990-AM) Note: This is Florida Gulf Coast's first home game since moving up to Division I. The Eagles are 80-11 all time at Alico Arena.

Drexel's unbeaten varsity eight won its third race of the season at yesterday's sixth annual La Salle University Invitational Regatta. Boats from 22 schools participated on the Cooper River in Camden County Park. Drexel, coached by Steve Orova and victorious over George Washington and St. Joseph's in previous regattas, stroked powerfully over the 2,000-meter course to win in 6 minutes, 12.1 seconds, in a cold, sharp crosswind. Bucknell was many lengths back in second place and later triumphed in the women's varsity eight.

Delran's Christine Kasprzak, a three-year starting midfielder, will play her college soccer at Drexel. Kasprzak signed a letter of intent with Drexel on Thursday evening. She was a first-team all-Burlington County Liberty Division selection last fall, when the Bears went 17-3-2 and were ranked fifth in South Jersey by The Inquirer. An unsung midfielder also known for her defensive skill, Kasprzak scored six goals as a senior. Kasprzak said she received a partial academic and a partial soccer scholarship.

TYLER HALE AND Kamile Nacickaite scored 14 points apiece to lead Drexel in a 66-39 rout of Northeastern in women's basketball action at the Daskalaskis Athletic Center last night. Hollie Mershon added 13 points as Drexel (9-7, 5-1 CAA) led by as much as 30 and had 15 points contributed off the bench. Deanna Kerkhof and Jamie Conroy each scored 12 to lead Northeastern (3-14, 1-5).  

Drexel will travel to Bradley on Feb. 20, during the NCAA's Bracketbuster Weekend. The game, scheduled for 7 p.m., is considered an official Bracketbuster contest since it will not be televised. The event provides programs from 14 participating conferences, a chance to face top nonconference opponents about three weeks before Selection Sunday. Drexel and Bradley will have to win their respective conference tournaments to reach the NCAA tournament. Drexel is 13-11, while Bradley is 11-11.

Tim Whitworth led Drexel to an 80-76 victory over William and Mary in a seesaw Colonial Athletic Association game last night. Whitworth, a graduate of Chestnut Hill Academy, scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half. That included a three-pointer that broke a 74-74 tie with 29 seconds left. Drexel (8-6, 3-2 Colonial) and William and Mary (4-11, 1-5) followed a roundabout route to that tie. William and Mary had led by as much as 11 in the first half. Drexel, which trailed by 38-35 at halftime, led by as much as 14 in the second half.

Delsea forward Kate Kane, considered among the fastest soccer players in South Jersey, has signed with Drexel. Kane earned a partial academic and soccer scholarship. She became the second South Jersey player this season to commit to Drexel. In the fall, Paul VI defender Noel Niederkorn also made a commitment to Drexel. Kane and Niederkorn, who are teammates for the Medford Strikers, will be roommates at Drexel. "I originally had it narrowed down to Delaware and St. Joe's," Kane said yesterday.

Television and radio host Tavis Smiley wrapped up Drexel University's 2013 commencement exercises with an address Saturday afternoon to graduates of Drexel's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design and College of Arts and Sciences. Starting Friday, more than 5,000 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students received degrees from the West Philadelphia institution during five ceremonies in the John A. Daskalakis Athletic Center at 33d and Market Streets. Smiley, host of the late-night television talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS and two shows on public radio, was among 13 who received honorary degrees.

The NCAA said this week that 976 teams have earned Public Recognition Awards, based on their most recent multiyear Academic Progress Rates. The awards are given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport in the APR results. The full report will be released Tuesday. St. Joseph's baseball, men's golf, women's lacrosse, and women's rowing received recognition. It marks the fourth straight year that the Hawks' baseball, women's lacrosse, and women's rowing teams have been cited, and the second consecutive year for men's golf.

Canopy tents surrounded the playing field at Drexel's Vidas Athletics Complex on Friday afternoon, each inhabited by throngs of exhausted, sweat-soaked rugby players resting and rehydrating. On the sidelines, small crowds hid from the sweltering sun as well, collectively gasping at each crushing tackle. The round-robin rounds of both the USA Rugby Sevens Women's Collegiate Rugby Championships and the U.S. Military Memorial Cup kicked off this weekend. And for a few of the teams competing, the tournament provided the opportunity to experience top-notch rugby sevens for the first time.

Drexel women's basketball coach Denise Dillon has agreed to a multiyear contract extension that will keep her at the school through 2020, athletic director Eric Zillmer said Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed. Dillon, who played at Villanova from 1993 to '96, is a member of the Big Five Hall of Fame. In her 10th season as coach, she guided Drexel to a 28-10 mark this year - a program record for victories. The Dragons won the Women's NIT championship in April, making Drexel the first Division I women's basketball team in Philadelphia to gain a postseason tournament title.

Of the 20 teams competing at PPL Park in this weekend's USA Sevens College Rugby Men's Championships, four particular squads will feel right at home. Penn, St. Joseph's, Villanova, and Temple each received invitations this year to collegiate rugby's premier sevens tournament. And if any of those teams meet another during the two-day tournament, the stakes will be high. "It's just kind of part of it, right?" Penn winger Dan Gleesack said of the local rivalries. "You go down Boathouse Row, and it's all the same schools that are right next to each other.

  Wesley O. Pipes, 81, of Haddon Township, a former environmental engineering professor at Drexel University, died of aplastic anemia, a bone marrow disease, Monday, May 20, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. Pipes, who headed the Drexel civil engineering department from 1984 to 1987, was president in 1975-76 of what is now the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, an organization with members in universities worldwide. "His father was a high school principal in Dallas," where Dr. Pipes grew up, daughter Susan Pipes Gobreski said, "and his family valued education.

ASHLEY HOWARD could be setting some kind of City 6 record when Villanova officially announces, probably sometime next week, that he is the newest assistant to basketball coach Jay Wright. Howard, a 2004 Drexel graduate, spent 4 years as a La Salle assistant and another 4 years as an assistant at Drexel. He spent last season as an Xavier assistant. So Villanova will be the third of the six city Division I schools in his first decade as a coach, certainly a unique résumé. Howard, the son of St. Joseph's Prep and Maryland great Mo Howard, will replace Raphael Chillious who was one of Wright's assistants last season.

Guy Grady Garrison, 85, of Radnor, professor and dean emeritus at the iSchool, Drexel's College of Information Science and Technology, died Monday, May 13, of heart failure at his home. "Since joining the college as professor and dean in 1968, Dr. Garrison was an integral leader, mentor, and friend of the Drexel community," the university said in a statement on its website. He served as dean for 19 years, until 1987, when he became the first Alice B. Kroeger Professor. He retired in 1992.

Johns Hopkins senior defenseman Tucker Durkin , from Huntingdon Valley and La Salle College High, was named a first-team all-American on Thursday. Durkin earned second-team honors as a sophomore and first-team honors last season. He led a Johns Hopkins lacrosse team that ranked third nationally in scoring defense (7.79). Drexel's Robert Church and Ben McIntosh were named honorable-mention all-Americans. Church led the Colonial Athletic Association with 3.8 points per game.

CHRIS FOUCH has unfinished basketball business at Drexel. Last season, Fouch, Drexel's instant offensive off the bench, was lost for the season after breaking his right ankle in the season's third game vs. Penn. The 6-2 guard has been granted a medical redshirt by the NCAA and will return for his sixth season next year. The Bronx, N.Y., native also missed his freshman season at Drexel with a knee injury. "As long as I've been playing basketball, I've won a championship on every level," Fouch said yesterday.