Drexel knows a bit about slow starts. Last year, the Dragons sat at 1-2 in late March, only to rattle off nine victories in a row to claim the program’s second-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

So when his team lost to UMBC and Lafayette in a four-day span to open the year, coach Brian Voelker took a pragmatic approach.

“For us, it’s really hard to get an at-large bid,” Voelker said. “So for us, the mantra was, ‘Everything we’re trying to do — win the conference, go to the NCAA tournament — is still right there in front of us.’ Obviously, we’d have preferred to be 2-0 and played better, but all of our goals are still right there. …  I don’t think we are where we can or should be, but I think we’re moving in that direction.”

A four-game winning streak has helped stabilize Drexel’s season entering Saturday’s scheduled game against Villanova. The Dragons (4-2) won a pair of one-goal games last week, a rollicking 18-17 defeat of Saint Joseph’s and an 11-10 double-overtime triumph at Marquette.

The run is especially encouraging since it suggests Drexel is adapting to a suboptimal faceoff situation. The Dragons are next-to-last in Division I with a .312 faceoff percentage, and none of the six guys they’ve tried at the X sits at better than 40 percent.

The good thing is Drexel does have answers elsewhere. Senior goalie Ross Blumenthal, a four-year starter, had 20 saves to carry the Dragons past LIU on March 5. With Blumenthal out due to injury, backup Drew McGill made 15 stops Saturday against Marquette.

There is also plenty of continuity from last year at the offensive end. Holdovers Aidan Coll, Sean Donnelly, Ryan Genord and Jack Mulcahy each have between 15 and 20 points, and Jacksonville transfer Max Semple is coming off a five-goal performance at Marquette.

Semple has 15 goals in five games, as he’s emerged as a replacement for graduated attackman Reid Bowering, who had 25 goals in nine games for the Dragons last season. Both Semple and Bowering are from Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Semple didn’t play in the opener, and his infusion of offense has helped. But Voelker thinks the difference for the Dragons in recent weeks might be as simple as just playing better.

“I knew the faceoff thing was going to be a challenge, and it was probably more of a challenge than we thought it was going to be,” Voelker said. “That’s obviously affected us and our record. But honestly, I just don’t think we played very well the first couple of games. On the offensive end and the defensive end, some of our known quantities and big boys didn’t play very well. I don’t think it was lack of effort or lack of enthusiasm. For some reason, things just didn’t click those first two games.”

Voelker praised his faceoff unit’s effort and said Drexel has had weekly competitions to pick out three guys to face off in each contest and then mix-and-match on game day.

But he’s also facing the reality the Dragons are probably going to face a possession imbalance as the season continues.

“We’re going to be challenged defensively because we’re going to have to play a lot of defense, just the way the faceoffs are going,” Voelker said. “When we get the ball offensively, we’re going to have to take advantage of it. We’re just trying to figure out how to do that stuff.”