DES MOINES, IOWA - When the final horn sounded a euphoric
jubilation poured out of the Drake men's soccer team as the Bulldogs swarmed one
another and then their head coach Sean Holmes as Drake had captured its first-ever State Farm Missouri Valley
Conference Men's Soccer Championship with a 2-1 victory over Evansville on
Sunday afternoon (Nov. 15) at the Cownie Soccer Complex.
The win was 12 years in the
making for Holmes, who by virtue of the Bulldogs' triumph had registered his 100th
career coaching victory at Drake and more importantly had collected the
school's first automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
Holmes was quick to give the
credit to his team and specifically the Bulldogs' six seniors that appeared in
the title game in
Calvin Clark (Overland Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas), Julien Edwards (Ottawa, Ont./De La Salle), Brian Wurst (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill South), Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit), Garrett Webb (Prairie Village, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) and Luke Gorczyca (Overland Park, Kan./St.
Thomas Aquinas), along with Ted Schleisman (Verona, Wis./Middleton) and Tom Spiess (Roseville, Minn./Totino-Grace), who didn't play.
"This is one of the happiest days
of my life but more than anything I'm excited for the seniors," Holmes
commented. "Those guys have had a sense of purpose and destiny almost since the
day they arrived and for their dreams to be fulfilled is pretty special."
NCAA tournament pairings will be
announced on Monday (Nov. 16) between 4:30-5:00 p.m. CT on ESPNEWS for
first-round games that begin on Thursday (Nov. 19).
The Bulldogs won their
championship behind a defensive unit that for the second consecutive contest saw
their opponents hold a decisive advantage in shots, as Evansville owned a 23-12
differential.
A testament to the Bulldogs'
starting defensive backline of Calvin Clark, Julien Edwards and Brian Wurst
along with sophomore Thomas Ostrander
(Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond Catholic) was their resolve as their efforts were
the cornerstone to Drake's efforts in securing the victory.
Ostrander was elevated into a
starting assignment for junior starter Nick Foster (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley), who was forced to miss the game due
to a post-match extra-curricular incident following Drake's 3-1 victory over
Creighton on Friday (Nov. 13), and he responded.
Redshirt junior Michael Drozd (Harwood Heights,
Ill./Loyola Academy) was equally impressive in net recording seven saves,
including several spectacular stops, to go along with a pair of critical team
saves.
"There were some plays I didn't
even know I pulled off, but our defenders and team played very well," Drozd
explained. "We played extremely
well in the second half and really proved we are one of the best teams in the midwest."
The Bulldogs began the scoring in
the affair in the 27th minute (26:29) when redshirt sophomore Michael Noonan (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa/Xavier) fired a shot from outside the top of the box which effortlessly
floated like a perfect knuckleball past Evansville goalkeeper Phil Boerger to
give Drake a 1-0 lead. A short
touch pass from sophomore Hunter Kennedy
(Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) provided the assist on Noonan's fourth goal of the
season.
"Noonan's shot was a piece of
magic," Holmes pronounced.
The Purple Aces squared the
affair at one at the 31:35 mark when Mike Luttrull fired a shot inside the 18
off passes from Tad Kreamalmeyer and Robby Lynch.
The game-winning tally came after
Evansville was whistled for a trip just outside the right of the box, setting up
a free kick by Kevin Shrout. Converting
on the opportunity, Shrout fired a shot that bended through and deflected off
the Evansville defense into the net for his third goal on the campaign.
"It was a spot to drive it low
and hard and make something happen, like a deflection," said Shrout. "Fortunately, something happened, but I
knew we still had a lot of work to do to close out the match."
The score held up through staunch
defensive play by the Bulldogs the rest of the half as Drake had earned its way
into the field of 48 in the NCAA Tournament.
"I don't think it was the best
game we ever played, but it was the most resolve that we've ever shown," Holmes
explained. "The guys were at home,
they were on national television, we hadn't done particularly well the first
time we played them and we responded. Evansville did a really good job today as
they were one of two or three teams this year that presented us with a real
problem."
Shrout paced the Bulldogs with
three shots, while Noonan, Webb and junior Matt Kuhn (Raytown, Mo./Raytown South)
added two apiece.
Kreamalmeyer and Justin Sass led
Evansville with a match-high four shots each.
Clark was named as the
tournament Most Valuable Player and Webb, Edwards and Shrout joined him on the
all-tournament team.
"It is a long season, so it was a
great feeling today," Clark commented.
"I can't describe how I felt during those last 10 seconds, it was
awesome. This senior year has been
special playing with an unbelievable group of seniors.
"I've been here for four years
and I will miss the whole team, but I'm happy to just have played alongside
everyone from the freshmen to the seniors," concluded Clark.
The Bulldogs must now await
Monday's NCAA Tournament announcement to see when and where their memorable
campaign will continue.
