DES MOINES, IOWA ?Sophomore Garrett Webb (Prairie Village, Kan.) scored two goals to lift the Drake men's soccer team to a 4-1 Missouri Valley Conference win over visiting Evansville in the squad's home MVC opener. The Bulldogs improved their record to 8-3-2 with a 1-0-1 mark in The Valley, while Evansville moves to 7-5-0 and 1-1-0 in conference action.

“Garrett Webb and I discussed his potential to have a multi-goal game before the kickoff and I think sometimes the enormous amount of work he does, doesn't always get rewarded with goals,” said Holmes. “That our freshmen continued to be so productive is exciting even more so that there are five or six guys that have yet to play that might be as good as the guys on the field.”

Sophomore Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit, Mo.) scored Drake's first goal in the 27th minute (26:29) unassisted from the top of the box, sending the Bulldogs to the half with the 1-0 lead.

“At 1-0 and 3-1, I think we lost our composure and although we are young we need to be more mature with a lead,” added Holmes. “In this game, Evansville was so dangerous going forward they could have scored three or four but on the other hand, with a little luck, we could have had seven or eight.”

The Purple Aces answered quickly to begin the second half when Sam Bornstein beat Drake goalkeeper Phillip Breuer (Port Washington, Wis.) to the far post scoring Evansville's only goal of the evening and knotting the match at one-all.

Webb scored his first goal in the 54th minute (53:44) on a feed from Shrout, returning the favor and beating Evansville's goalkeeper Alec Dufty to the far post, shooting across the box.

Webb rattled off his second goal less than three minutes later (56:28) when he took a rebound off a shot sending it past Dufty and giving Drake a comfortable two-goal lead.

Julien Edwards (Ottawa, Ontario) capped off the Bulldogs' evening in the 73rd minute (72:10) when he took a feed from Charlie Schwartz (Bettendorf, Iowa) and played the ball through the defense to score Drake's third tally of the half.

Drake out shot Evansville, 14-5, taking ten shots in the second half. Shrout led the Bulldogs with five shots, four of which were on goal. Webb took three shots, including two which resulted in Bulldog goals.

Breuer made two saves to reel in his eighth win of the season.

“Breuer came up big once in each half and that ultimately was the difference in the game. We have so few healthy seniors that we need the few that are playing to be difference makers. Luke Frieberg continues to be so physically and vocally dominant at the back. His energy and commitment to win are clearly contagious. In the middle of the park Luke Gorczyca was his usual 100 percent reliable, and Shrout continues to have a breakout year, he is so multifaceted in his attacking skills that when he is on I think we might be unbeatable,” commented Holmes.

Evansville was whistled for for eight offsides violations.

Drake returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts UMKC for a match at 7 p.m. at Drake Stadium.