NOV. 17, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- The Drake men's soccer team has been rewarded for its school-record setting season by earning a berth in the NCAA Soccer Championship. The announcement was made by the NCAA Soccer Committee late Monday afternoon.

The Bulldogs, who are the only team to play NCAA Division I soccer in Iowa, will play at Saint Louis this Friday (Nov. 21) at 7 p.m.

The winner will play at No. 6 seeded Indiana Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

It will mark the first ever NCAA Tournament appearance for Drake which has fielded a men's intercollegiate soccer program since 1986.

"I am so excited for our young men on our team, they are a terrific bunch of guys," said Drake head coach Sean Holmes, who is in his 11th season as head coach at Drake.

"This is the result of 11 years of hard work by a lot of people, not just the 31 players on this year's squad."

Saint Louis (10) and Indiana (seven) have combined to win 17 NCAA titles.

"The fact that they put us in the bracket with Saint Louis and Indiana -- two of the winningest programs in NCAA history -- makes this season's adventure even more unbelievable," said Holmes.

The Bulldogs own a school-record 13-4-1 mark, having been nationally ranked for the last 10 weeks.

Saint Louis has an 11-4-5 record. Saint Louis beat Drake, 2-1, in the only previous meeting between the schools in 1998 in Omaha, Neb.

Holmes said that the NCAA Tournament selection was even more gratifying considering that the Bulldogs' roster has just one senior starter (Ryan Moylan) and a heavy local flavor featuring nine former Iowa high school standouts.

"What makes this exciting is that Iowa kids are the core of our team and this proves we can be competitive with former Iowa high school players," Holmes added.

Drake and Saint Louis have played two common opponents -- Missouri State and Creighton.

Drake beat Missouri State, 3-2, in Des Moines and then tied the Bears, 1-1, in the semifinal round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last Friday. But Missouri State advanced on penalty kicks.Saint Louis earned a 3-0 home victory past Missouri State

Saint Louis and Creighton battled to a scoreless tie Oct. 4 in St. Louis. Creighton claimed a 2-0 home victory past Drake Nov. 1.