DES MOINES, IOWA - The faces have changed but the men's soccer rivalry between Drake and Creighton remains as hot as ever as No. 10 Bluejays withstood a spirited Bulldog effort en route to collecting a come-from-behind 2-1 victory on Wednesday (Oct. 20) at the Cownie Soccer Complex.

The loss snapped Drake's 11-match home unbeaten streak dating back to last season and in the process dropped the Bulldogs to 6-6-2 overall and 2-1-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Creighton moved its slate to 10-2, including 3-0 in league action.

"Creighton is a very tidy team and their new coach has them competing and fighting for every ball over the field and that is really the first time since back in early September that I thought we were outcompeted," Drake head coach Sean Holmes commented.  "Thaden's terrific goal, which will probably go down as the goal of the season for us, came a little bit against the run of play and set us up for a big opportunity to knock off a top-10 team, but after that I think the game got away from us a little bit." 

The Bulldogs struck first when junior Michael Thaden (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley), the current MVC Offensive Player of the Week, unleashed a blast from 35 yards out that hit the right-side post and ricocheted into the net for his third goal of the season at the 11:57 mark to give Drake a 1-0 lead.  The tally was set-up by passes from senior Evan Harrison (Evansville, Ind./Reitz Memorial) and redshirt junior Charles Schwartz (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf).

The Bluejays scored the equalizer in the 20th minute (19:15) when Kris Clark registered the first of his two goals of the night.  Credited with assists on the tally were Andrew Ribeiro and Jose Gomez.

Clark again hit at the 35:41 mark striking a ball with elevation top shelf off feeds from the corner by Ethan Finley and Dion Acoff giving Creighton what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Both sides had quality opportunities to record tallies in the second half but both redshirt junior Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Kennedy), the reigning MVC Defensive Player of the Week, and Bluejay goalkeeper Brian Holt proved up to the task combing for seven second-half saves.

A long punt pulled Holt off his line, was put toward the frame by senior Nick Foster (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) at the 63:00 mark, but after the ball trickled through a mass of bodies and off the left post, the Bluejays cleared the ball.  Redshirt junior Michael Noonan (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) put a strike on goal in the 85th minute (84:35), but Holt again made the save.  Holt then denied Schwartz's shot at the 88:31 mark.

"I was really excited by how we responded to start the second half creating some very good chances," said Holmes.  "We're always going to leave ourselves a little naked at the back and give up some opportunities because we were pressing for the result. We showed some promise and composure.  They have a tremendous amount of team speed and in the end really that is essentially the same team we played last year in the MVC semifinals and we beat 2.5 of out three times and we are effectively a whole new team with nine new starters."

Creighton posted a 19-13 advantage in shots, including 10-8 in the second half.  Schwartz paced the Bulldog's attack with three shots, while Noonan and Thaden each added two shots.  A five-shot performance by Clark led the Bluejays.

"We had enough chances at the end of the game," explained Holmes.  "We pressed for a result that we probably could've scrounged a tie out of it, but they're a more mature team than we are and I think we'll be more prepared three weeks from now in Peoria if we get to play them again."

Kadlec finished the affair with seven saves, while Holt pulled in four stops.

"Jordan (Kadlec) was again terrific coming up with some big-time saves," Holmes extolled.  "I think if we're going to be as effective as we can in the last three games, two of which are on the road, we'll need our upperclassmen to compete.  Not having Max (Duncan) at midfield hurt a little bit tonight, it didn't give us the depth we require.  College soccer games are won with 16, 17 and 18 guys, not with 11 and when we lose a couple guys off the bench that thins us out a little bit."

Senior Kenan Malicevic (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Valley) made his return from injury to the Bulldog attack in the second half after a 12-game layoff. 

"It was nice to have Kenan (Malicevic) back for a few minutes tonight but his 12-game layoff was certainly apparent," stated Holmes.

Drake returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 23) with a 7:00 p.m. tilt at SIU Edwardsville.