EVANSVILLE, IND. ? In the end the result will go down in the record books as a 1-1 tie but the gravity of the situation is the Drake men's soccer team let a golden opportunity to control its own fate in securing an NCAA Tournament bid slip away as the Bulldogs were bettered 4-1 in penalty kicks by Missouri State in the semifinals of the 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Friday (Nov. 14).
Drake must now await the NCAA Tournament announcements on Monday (Nov. 17) to see if its body of work this season is worthy of an at-large selection to the 48-team tournament. The Bulldogs stand at 13-4-1 after the tie, while Missouri State saw its ledger go to 7-9-5.
“Despite the challenging conditions today of pelting rain and nasty winds and losing the game at the last minute, I thought we responded very well,” Drake head coach Sean Holmes commented.
The Bulldogs thoroughly dominated the final statistical column as Drake bettered the Bears, 20-6, in shots, including 15-3 in the final 65 minutes in the game.
The Bulldog nearly won the contest in the first overtime period as junior Garrett Webb (Prairie Village, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) peppered Missouri State goalie Alex Riggs with three straight shots, each harder than the last, just three minutes into the extra session. Riggs made the save on each attempt to thwart the scoring chance.
“Statistically we dominated the shot count, 20-6, and we had the majority of the possessions for the 110 minutes, unfortunately when you go to a penalty shootout it is a coin toss,” Holmes said.
In the shootout, Missouri State made its first two attempts courtesy of David Buckenheimer and Jordann Barbero, while the Bulldogs came up short in each of their initial two strikes. The Bears went up 3-0 on Will Ziegahn's tally before junior Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) connected on Drake's third attempt to extend the kicks to a fourth round. Missouri State sealed the penalty-kick victory with a successful kick by Johannes Demarzi.
The Bears got on the scoreboard first in the tilt as Kyle Windmueller took a feed from Demarzi from 25 yards and blasted a ball with lift over the outstretched hands of sophomore Michael Drozd (Hartwood, Ill./Loyola Academy) to the upper corner for a 1-0 advantage.
The margin remained at 1-0 until sophomore Kenan Malicevic (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Valley) squared the affair at one as he nailed the rebound off his own shot past the diving hands of Riggs into the open net.
“I thought we played some very skillful soccer, we tried to win the game every minute of the game,” Holmes said. “Missouri State battled very hard, for the last 30-40 minutes they were very content to get into a penalty shootout.”
Riggs finished the contest with six saves, while Drozd registered two saves in the tie.
Malicevic paced all players with six shots, while Webb and Shrout each added five. Windmueller led Missouri State with three shots.
“We had our chances and didn't capitalize on them, soccer can be cruel like that,” Holmes said.
The NCAA Tournament announcement show is scheduled to air on ESPNEWS on Monday (Nov. 17) between 4:30-5 p.m.CST
