WHATS AHEAD: The Drake mens soccer team will be looking to continue its hot streak as it hosts Oakland Friday before traveling to Tulsa on Sunday.
Drake is off to a 2-0 start following victories over UMKC, 3-0, and Oral Roberts, 3-0, last week.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Oakland owns a 1-1 record so far this season. The Golden Grizzlies recorded a 1-0 win against Coastal Carolina last Friday (Aug. 25) before falling to St. Johns 1-0 Sunday (Aug. 25)
Oakland is the favorite to win the Mid-Continent title, as voted by the MCC Preseason Coaches poll. Oakland won the regular season title for the third time in four years last season, posting a 5-1 MCC mark last season.
The Golden Grizzlies return seven starters and 12 letterwinners from last seasons squad which owned a 10-9-0 overall mark.
Tulsa is 1-1 on the season, and has already picked up a victory against No. 28 Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3-1, winning its season opener for the first time since 2003. The Golden Hurricane then fell in the second round of the Great Western Downtown Plaza/Golden Hurricane Classic to Wisconsin, 3-0.
The Golden Hurricane are tabbed to finish fourth in Conference-USA by the C-USA Preseason Coaches Poll.
Tulsa has 13 returners and 14 newcomers this season. A year ago, the Caines went 7-7-7, including a 2-4-3 mark in C-USA play.

SIBERZ, MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Drake senior defender Blake Siberz has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Soccer Player of the Week after his solid performance, anchoring the Bulldogs defense to a pair of shutout victories last week.
Blake and Drakes defense held opponents scoreless last week and allowed only 13 shots, four on goal.

BROTHERLY LOVE: Luke and Keith Gorzyca provided the offense in Drakes 3-0 win over Oral Roberts on Sunday. The tandem combined for seven total shots, four shots on goal, with Keith netting two unassisted goals, and Luke sending in another one. Luke is a freshman, while Keith is a junior.

ATTENDANCE IS UP: The August 17 match against Notre Dame in front of 1,310 fans marked the largest crowd ever to watch a collegiate soccer match in the state of Iowa, eclipsing the previous mark of 1,017 when the Drake mens team played host to Stanford last season. Drake also vaulted into the NCAA top 50 in average attendance last year.
Drake then attracted 927 fans in its season opener last Friday against UMKC.

MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOK: Junior goalkeeper Phillip Breuer netted four saves in Sundays shutout win over Oral Roberts moving him into a tie for sixth with Nick Bratt on the Drake career saves tally, with the complete game shutout he moves into a tie with Jay Montgomery for fourth on the career solo-shutouts leaderboard as well.

LOOKING BACK: The Bulldogs defense held strong, allowing only four shots by UMKC, to win their season opener last Friday night (Aug. 25), 3-0 at Drake Stadium.
Senior Peter Kariotis got the Bulldogs rolling, registering the first goal on the night for Drake at the 37:36 mark of the first half, when he took a free kick from the top of the box, beating UMKC goalkeeper Ricardo Guerrara to the right corner.

Freshman Kevin Shrout recorded the second goal for the Bulldogs. At the 30:54 mark of the first half, he was fed off of a header by fellow freshman Luke Gorczyca finding the right side of the goal.
Senior Alex Bollinger netted the final goal with only 4:46 left in the final frame. Junior Luke Frieberg fed Bollinger beating the UMKC goalie from the top of the box.
The Bulldogs out-shot the Kangaroos, 13-4. Drake recorded seven shots on goal, while UMKC had none.
Bollinger and Frieberg led the Drake attack each making three shots. All three of Bollingers shots resulted in either a save by UMKC or a goal.

For the second time last weekend the Bulldogs were on the winning end of a 3-0 shutout, this time over Oral Roberts Sunday (Aug. 27). The victory marked the first time since 2004 that the Bulldogs have opened up 2-0.
After a unenergetic first half, the Bulldogs came out blazing in the second. Junior Keith Gorczyca sent an unassisted shot from outside the box at the 44:35 mark of the second half, straight into the net, recording the Bulldogs first goal of the game.
Freshman Luke Gorczyca recorded the second goal when he redirected a corner kick from junior Luke Frieberg straight into the goal in the 86th minute (85:55)of the second half.
Only a minute and 16 seconds later (87:11), Keith Gorczyca completed the brothers hat-trick sending his second goal of the game into the net from outside the box, putting the finishing touches on the Bulldogs 3-0 shutout win.
The Bulldogs out shot Oral Roberts, 16-9, recording nine shots on goal to ORUs four. Drake goalkeeper Phillip Breuer recorded four saves.

PRESEASON COACHES POLL: The Bulldogs have been tabbed to finish fourth by the MVC Preseason Coaches Poll. Creighton was picked to finish first in MVC play, receiving six first-place votes. Missouri State finished second in the poll, picking up one first-place vote. Bradley followed, then Drake, with Eastern Illinois, Evansville and Western Kentucky rounding out the poll.

SIZING UP THE BULLDOGS: With Drakes top five scorers from last season not returning, there will be plenty of opportunities for underclassmen to emerge, led by Jake Henneman, who was named to the MVC All-Freshman team last season.
There are some big shoes to fill in midfield with the graduation of 2005 MVC Co-Player of the Year Jesse Baker and first team all-region pick Chris Hamburger.
Junior Keith Gorczyca is Drakes top returning scorer with three goals and four assists for 10 points last season, starting 18 of 20 games played.
Seniors Peter Kariotis and Blake Siberz anchor the backfield while Siberz will look to fill the center back spot, taking over for all-region performer Corey Farabi. Kariotis, moving from midfield, will play the left side.
Junior Phillip Breuer returns as goalkeeper after posting a 1.42 goals against average behind three shutouts and 69 saves. Breuer totaled 1,841 minutes, playing in all of Drakes 20 games last season. He already has put his stamp on Drakes record books, holding the No. 1 spot with a 1.39 career goals against average, ranking fourth with 12 career wins and seventh with 129 career saves.

HEAD COACH SEAN HOLMES: Sean Holmes is in his ninth year as head coach of the Drake mens soccer team owning a 61-77-11 record at Drake. Under his direction, the future has looked brighter every season.
Holmes led the Bulldogs to a school record three victories over Top 25 ranked teams in 2005, including Drakes first win over then No. 16 Creighton to end a 22-year drought against the Bluejays.
That victory sparked a four-game winning streak to the end of the season that saw Drake win its first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament game since 1997 with a 1-0 victory versus Missouri State in the quarterfinal round.
Those wins vaulted Drake to a 9-9-2 mark, giving the Bulldogs a winning percentage of .500 or better in three of the last four seasons after a six-year stint of losing seasons.







UPCOMING MVC SCHEDULE

Friday, September 1
Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Missouri State, 2:30 p.m.
Western Kentucky at Appalachian State, 3:30 p.m.
Georgetown at Creighton, 7:30 p.m.
Wisconsin-Green Bay at Evansville, 7 p.m.
Oakland at Drake, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 2
Asbury at Eastern Illinois, 1 p.m.

Sunday, September 3
Georgetown vs. Missouri State, 10:30 a.m.
Wofford vs. Western Kentucky, 11 a.m.
Fairleigh Dickinson at Creighton, 7 p.m.
Missouri-Kansas City at Eastern Illinois, 3:15 p.m.
Butler at Evansville, 4 p.m.
Drake at Tulsa, 7 p.m.
Bradley at Illinois Chicago, 7 p.m.