KANSAS CITY, MO. - Junior
Kenan Malicevic (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa/Cedar Valley) scored a pair of goals and added an assist to lead the Drake
men's soccer team to a 4-0 victory over Oral Roberts on Friday evening (Sept.
18) at the UMKC Invitational.
With his effort, Malicevic joined senior Garrett Webb (Prairie Village, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) as the
second Bulldog to register a multi-goal performance this season and in doing so
propelled Drake to 4-2 on the campaign, while dropping the Golden Eagles to 1-4
overall.
"I was thrilled with our effort tonight after giving up four goals in a
bad loss versus Memphis on the road last Sunday," Bulldog head coach Sean Holmes commented. "Our creativity, speed and ideas going
forward were outstanding."
"I think we could and should have scored eight or nine goals but a
shutout on the road is more than acceptable."
Malicevic gave Drake an early 1-0 advantage with his first goal of the
season at the 25:53 mark, accepting a feed from senior Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) and besting Golden
Eagles' goalkeeper Andrew Techanchuk.
Shrout collected his team-leading second assist of the season on the
tally.
"It was nice for Kenan, who ended last year well, to finally get in the
scoring column," Holmes said.
Redshirt sophomore Michael Noonan
(Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) extended the margin to 2-0 with his second goal of
the year in the 40th minute (39:46).
Malicevic notched the assist with a strong diagonal ball inside the 18
to set up Noonan.
Just 48 seconds into the second half (45:48), Malicevic connected off a
loose ball inside the box to push Drake's lead to 3-0.
Senior Calvin Clark (Overland
Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) rounded out the highest scoring output for the
Bulldogs this season with his second goal of the year off a corner kick from junior
Matt Kuhn (Raytown, Mo./Raytown
South).
Drake won the battle of shots, 18-9, led by four shots apiece from
Malicevic and Shrout. Sterling
Copeland and Aaron Douthit paced Oral Roberts with two shots each.
"Kevin (Shrout) was outstanding at midfield." Holmes explained. "Luke (Gorczyca) was industrious as
always, while Brian (Wurst) was very good at left back."
Redshirt junior Michael Drozd
(Harwood Heights, Ill./Loyola Academy) played the first 63:31 in net before
yielding to redshirt sophomore Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Kennedy), who made fives saves in
nearly 27 minutes (26:29) to protect Drake's third shutout of the campaign. Techanchuk hauled in four saves for the
Golden Eagles.
Twenty-one Bulldogs garnered playing time in the affair and Holmes feels
this will pay dividends for Drake as the season rolls on.
"To play so many players was a testament to our depth and should make
some of our younger players hungry to earn more minutes," Holmes stated.
Drake returns to action on Sunday (Sept. 20) as the Bulldogs face the
host Kangaroos in the finale of the UMKC Invitational. Game time is scheduled
for 1:30 p.m.
