DEKALB, Ill. – The Drake University men's soccer team scored three unanswered goals to rally past Northern Illinois, 3-1, Sunday afternoon in its final exhibition match of the preseason.
 
"Today was a strong, collective, performance against a very good NIU team," said Drake head coach Gareth Smith. "This is always a difficult place to play and it was a toughly contested match from start to finish."
 
Giovanni Garcia scored the match's initial goal for the Huskies in the 25^th minute, but the Bulldogs tied the friendly with sophomore Nic Jaimes' (Olathe, Kan.) equalizer (34:21) that came off an assist from junior Steven Enna (Overland Park, Kan.) inside the box.
 
Midway through the second half, Drake took the lead behind goals by senior James Wypych (Wellington, New Zealand) and sophomore Ryan Merideth (East Moline, Ill.) at the 63:02 mark and 75:27 mark, respectively. Wypych scored off a direct free kick from 25 yards out and Merideth beat the NIU keeper for a loose ball at the top of the box and punched the ball past into the empty net.
 
"It was an excellent collective performance on both sides of the ball, which was the real key to our success," Smith said. "Our collective defense was much improved and we had some notable individual performances in the attack by James, Nic and Ryan."
 
Drake opens the regular season Friday at Pacific followed by another match in California on Sunday night at CSU Bakersfield. Both matches start at 9 p.m. CST.
 
"I am very pleased with our application and attitude during the preseason," Smith said. "We have tightened up different aspects of our defending and are creating a number of chances in the attacking third, so it is pleasing to see training transfer into competition."