DES MOINES, IOWA - A pair of
second-half goals from freshman
Paige Dusek (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) ignited the Drake women's
soccer team to 2-0 triumph over Missouri State on Sunday (Oct. 17) at the
Cownie Soccer Complex.
The victory enabled the Bulldogs to improve their slate to 9-5-3
overall, including 2-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while descending the
Bears' ledger to 8-5-2 and 2-1-1 in league competition.
"Missouri State is a team that is always organized and traditionally
difficult to score on, so we knew we would get a few good scoring
chances today, but not a lot," Drake head coach Lindsey Horner commented. "That was really the difference in this game, we converted on a great
chance, and the game changed. The second goal was a result of MSU
throwing numbers forward, but as a unit we were able to absorb their
pressure and Paige (Dusek) was composed in putting it in the back of the net.
Our players take pride in earning shutouts, and today we were difficult
to break down in the run of play as we should be this time of year."
The two combatants waged a scoreless showdown in the initial stanza with
Missouri State posting a 10-6 advantage in shots.
The stalemate was broken at the 47:22 mark when Dusek accepted a
give-and-go pass from junior Danielle Figliola (Longmont, Colo./Silver Creek) and sophomore Tara Zika (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline) and slid past the Bears'
defense and beat a diving Jessica Teahan for her third goal of the season to
give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
The Drake offense went in a slumber after the goal as more than 25
minutes elapsed before freshman Generve Charles (Wausau, Wis./Wausau East) registered the team's next shot in the 74th
minute (73:49).
Dusek capped her first career multi-goal affair in the 88th minute
(87:37) again finishing off a give-and-go, this time taking the pass from
sophomore Laura Moklestad (Des
Moines, Iowa/Roosevelt) and manufacturing her fourth goal on the campaign.
Missouri State finished the game owning a 16-12 advantage in shots. Dusek led all players with five shots,
while Charles contributed four off the bench. Tiffany Laughlin registered a team-high three shots in
reserve duty for the Bears.
Freshman Kalena Litch
(Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) pulled in four saves en route to collecting her
league-best eighth shutout of the year for the Bulldogs. Teahan also garnered four stops in
goal.
Drake honored seniors Katie Anderson (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) and Bailey Dorrington (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) along with redshirt
junior Abi Dodds (Topeka, Kan./Hayden)
prior to the game on Senior Day as the trio was participating in their final
regular season home tilts as Bulldogs.
"Our seniors were honored before the game, and while their contributions
to the team have been very different, they are each important to our
program," said Horner. "These three are great representatives of our program and have
helped our younger players with the transition to being a
student-athlete in college."
Drake is off for the next 11 days before closing its regular season at
in-state rival Northern Iowa on Oct. 28.
Game time in Waterloo, Iowa, is set for 7:00 p.m.
"We get some well deserved time off, but during this break we will need to be able to stay focused and sharp," Horner stated.
