DES MOINES, Iowa – Western Illinois scored in the 78^th minute to edge the Drake University men's soccer team, 2-1, Tuesday, Nov. 1 night at the Cownie Soccer Complex. The non-conference match closes the regular season for Drake.
 
"Very exciting game with a great crowd and atmosphere tonight," said head coach Gareth Smith of the crowd on fan appreciation night. "Overall we performed relatively well, created good chances, but missed on a couple assignments that cost us in the last 10-12 minutes. We are doing enough to win games, but in some areas we aren't doing enough to prevent opponents from scoring and it comes down to execution. We have to get back to training, work on parts of the process and help work out the defending areas. We are creating chances and scoring goals, but we have to make sure we aren't conceding them."
 
Western Illinois (7-9-1) went on the scoreboard first in the 16^th minute (16:32) as Daniel Collins found the back of the net off an assist from his teammate, Jacob Bevan.
 
Drake (5-11-1) wasted little time getting the equalizer as senior James Wypych (Wellington, New Zealand) came through once again for the Bulldogs. Sophomore Nic Jaimes (Olathe, Kan.) fired a deep shot towards the Leathernecks' goal that was deflected and sent high into the air. The ball landed in front of Wypych who gathered the ball and fired a volley past the WIU goalkeeper, Tim Hansen. Wypych's goal (19:12) was his fifth goal in the past four games. He leads the Bulldogs and ranks third in the league with eight goals this season.
 
The two teams battled the rest of the half as the score was 1-1 at halftime. Western Illinois finished with five shots and Drake had four in the first half.
 
The teams traded shots in the second half before Western Illinois broke through for the go-ahead goal in the 78^th minute. The Leathernecks had a corner kick that the Bulldogs didn't clear and it went to Alejandro Pacheco, who fired a shot past Drake goalkeeper Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario).
 
The Bulldogs had two near answers in the 82^nd minute. Junior Steven Enna (Overland Park, Kan.) headed a ball off a cross that Hansen made a diving save of that redshirt senior Ben LeMay (Hugo, Minn.) was able to make a second effort on but Hansen blocked it wide. Drake's corner kick was cleared out as the Bulldogs didn't register another shot as the Leathernecks held on for the win.
 
MacLeod, who is already the program's all-time leader in wins, minutes, shutouts and games, registered four saves to take possession of the all-time mark with 304.
 
Drake, the defending 2015 MVC Tournament champions, is the sixth seed for next week's 2016 MVC Tournament to be held in Springfield, Mo., from Nov. 8-13. Drake and seventh-seeded Bradley will play each other in the play-in game on Nov. 8 at 12 p.m., as the winner will advance to play the third seed in the quarterfinals on Nov. 9.
 
"Now the tournament starts and it really is a clean slate," Smith said. "Everything is up for grabs. The week off will do us well and allow our guys to recharge the batteries and freshen up and get rid of some nagging injuries. It also gives us time to get in proper training sessions before the tournament starts and clean some areas up and get some guys healthy."