DES MOINES, IOWA - The Drake men's soccer team dropped a 3-2 decision to Green Bay Friday night at the Cownie Soccer Complex after battling back from an early 2-0 deficit.

“Tonight was very bittersweet overtime loss, to put ourselves in such a deep hole after three minutes is unacceptable,” said Drake head coach Sean Holmes. “On the first goal we were asleep, on the second we made a catastrophic error, against good teams like Green Bay we cannot afford to put ourselves behind the eight ball. That we responded in such emphatic fashion is a credit to the spirit and character of our squad.”

JC Banks scored in the first 24 seconds of the game to give the Phoenix a 1-0 advantage. Less than three minutes later Tyler Rosenberg scored to improve Green Bay's lead, 2-0.

Taking over the game in the second half, the Bulldogs pushed the action and played mostly on the Green Bay side of the field.

Senior Keith Gorczyca (Overland Park, Kan.) scored Drake's first goal in the 48th minute when sophomore Garrett Webb (Prairie Village, Kan.) sent him a corner kick which Gorczyca redirected into the goal.

Sophomore Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit, Mo.) forced the overtime when he scored a goal in the 87th minute off a pass from freshman Matt Kuhn (Raytown, Mo.)

“Our left side with Julien Edwards at left back and freshman Matt Kuhn at left mid was terrific. The brains and desire to win of the Gorczycas in the middle of the park was impeccable. And our creativity and movement off the ball upfront with Shrout and Webb was something we did not see last year. The back four marshaled by Luke Frieberg and anchored by Calvin Clark were good. True freshman Nick Foster at right midfield also had a commendable rookie outing,” commented Holmes.

The Bulldogs pushed the game into the 105th minute, but Francois Basty scored off of a corner kick from Dan O'Brien to win the match, 3-2, for Green Bay.

Drake out shot Green Bay 17-8, including four shots on goal in a very physical match with 38 fouls and four yellow cards issued between the two teams.

“The fact that we were able to out shoot 17-8 and clearly out-chance such a good team shows that we have enormous potential,” said Holmes. In the days ahead, the players who haven't had their opportunity yet need to demonstrate that they are ready to compete, to battle, to defend and to fight at this level. Everyone who was on the field tonight proved that but in a long season you need to be able to go deeper than 14 players,” concluded Holmes.

The Bulldogs next face IPFW on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Cownie Soccer Complex.