DES MOINES, IOWA - With one
little flick of his foot sophomore Thomas Ostrander (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond Catholic) catapulted the 22nd-rated
Drake men's soccer team to a dramatic 1-0 Missouri Valley Conference victory
over Evansville on Saturday evening (Oct.10) on the strength of his
game-winning goal in the 89th minute (88:23).
The tally was the second of the season for Ostrander and was set up on a
long ball from redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Michael Drozd (Harwood Heights, Ill./Loyola Academy) that found
senior Garrett Webb (Prairie
Village, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) in stride. Webb passed the ball to Ostrander, who managed to flick the
ball past the sprawling Evansville goalie Phil Boerger at the top of the box to
give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
The goal propelled Drake's ledger to 7-3-1 overall, including 2-0 in the
MVC, while the Purple Aces saw their record drop to 8-4 on the year and 2-2 in
league action.
"A tremendously exciting end to an otherwise average game," Bulldog head
coach Sean Holmes commented. "Again, just like on Wednesday at
Western Illinois, we managed to grind out a result."
"We never really found our rhythm in the whole game, but to be
undefeated in the conference and be a few days away from the first NCAA RPI at
7-3-1 is a sort of satisfaction."
The contest appeared slated for overtime as both sides got off their
fare share of shots but neither was able to find the back of the net before
Ostrander's heroics in an otherwise choppy contest.
"I thought we were very good going forward at times but never
consistently and it never flowed," Holmes said. "The game was very stop-start. The moisture on the field from this morning's snow speed up
the game a little bit and the ball skipped out causing a lot of stoppages."
The Purple Aces had their opportunities to score late but weren't able
to capitalize against the Drake defense.
"I never felt like they (Evansville) were going to score in the run of
play except maybe in the last 10 minutes, but credit to the guys for having the
maturity, again, to win when we don't play great," Holmes explained.
The two sides battled to a scoreless tie in the first half with Drake
holding an 8-3 advantage in shots.
Webb nearly provided the Bulldogs the lead at the 56:51 mark when
Boerger narrowly deflected a rocket shot in the middle of the box out of bounds
for the save.
Webb finished the affair with a game-high five shots, while Ostrander,
senior Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit,
Mo./Lee's Summit), sophomore Hunter Kennedy (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) and senior Luke Gorczyca (Overland Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) added three,
two, two and two shots, respectively.
Dan Gibson and Tad Kreamalmeyer paced Evansville with two shots apiece.
The Bulldogs won the final shot count in the game 18-9.
Boerger collected five saves for the Purple Aces, while Drozd recorded a
pair of stops to pull in his fifth shutout of the season and second this
week.
Contributing solid defense to the Bulldogs notching the shutout was the
play of senior defenders Calvin Clark
(Overland Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Julien Edwards (Ottawa, Ontario/De La Salle).
"Our two center backs (Calvin Clark and Julien Edwards) were very
solid," Holmes stated. "It was
great for Michael (Drozd) to get his fifth shutout of the season and second of
the week."
The MVC's new home-and-home format this season where each conference foe
will play the remaining five league opponents both at home and away is a
challenge Holmes is well aware of as the Bulldogs look to finish strong.
"I have a feeling a lot of the conference will look like this where
people will be playing not to lose on the road. We have to get our full points at home and then go steal
some on the road to be successful."
Drake returns to action on Wednesday (Oct. 14) when the Bulldogs travel
to face preseason MVC favorite Creighton in a 7:00 p.m. tilt.
