DES MOINES, IOWA - Senior Nick Foster's (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) goal from just inside the midfield stripe in the 76th minute (75:03) lifted the Drake men's soccer team to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Evansville on Saturday (Oct. 9) at the Cownie Soccer Complex.

In the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both schools, the defending league champion Bulldogs parlayed a 14-5 second-half shot advantage into their fifth win of the season to improve to 5-5-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while dropping the Purple Aces' ledger to 4-6-1 and 0-1 in league competition.

"Soccer is often called a game of two halves and I thought tonight was sort of a game of three quarters," Drake head coach Sean Holmes commented.  "The first quarter of the game I thought they were far better and were rewarded with their goal as they put us under constant pressure and we didn't respond very well.  The game then turned a little and we showed some maturity.  The second half we came out and scored a great early goal and we should have had another as we missed an easy sitter."

"I think in the first month in September we would have never recovered from being 1-0 down and from the missed opportunity to put them away but we battled and matured.  In the end, it could have been 3-1 or 4-1, as we had a couple of good naked chances, but of course they were chasing the game at the end, but I thought we did well."

After being forced to sit out the title game of the MVC Tournament last season against the Purple Aces as a result of a post-match extra-curricular incident in Drake's semifinal victory over Creighton, Foster assumed the leadership mantle in the affair in helping the Bulldogs erase a 1-0 halftime deficit en route to victory.

"I told the guys before that we were the defending Missouri Valley Conference champions and as such people have to come play us and when you're at home these games are absolutely so vital to get three points," Holmes stated.

Evansville dominated the early portion of the affair with the Purple Aces outshooting Drake in the initial stanza, 7-3, en route to taking a 1-0 lead into the intermission after Tyler Kincaid's goal at the 17:41 knocked off the far post and bounced in.

The Bulldogs made their adjustments at halftime and the results were evident immediately as senior Evan Harrison (Evansville, Ind./Reitz Memorial) capitalized against his hometown team knocking in a header at the 46:34 mark off a cross from 30 yards out courtesy of Foster to square the match at one.  The goal was the first of the season for Harrison.

"For Evan (Harrison) to score that goal against his hometown team, is beyond great," said Holmes.  "In front of his family, against his hometown it doesn't get any better.  I'm really excited for him."

The shots kept falling for the Bulldogs as they just missed on several opportunities before Foster connected on the game-winner to the upper-left corner of the net.

"That we won on a fluky goal is kind of nice because we don't score a lot of those and we've had one or two go against us," explained Holmes.  "I think when you get that sort of passion and commitment that flows through the rest of team I think the guys pick up their cues good things are going to happen."

Harrison led the Drake attack with a game-high four shots, while freshman Nick Marshall (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) registered three shots, including back-to-back salvos within three yards of the goal in the second half.  A four-shot effort from Kincaid sparked Evansville.

Redshirt junior Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Kennedy) collected four saves for the Bulldogs, while Phil Boerger recorded six stops for the Purple Aces.

Holmes also applauded the effort of redshirt sophomore Jordan Stanley (Roscoe, Ill/Harlem).

"Jordan (Stanley) was again terrific in the midfield for the first 70 minutes as we sort of had a little platoon system going on up front."

Drake now turns its attention to a key two-game road swing with contests at Bradley and Missouri State on Wednesday (Oct. 13) and Saturday (Oct. 16), respectively.  Both contests are slated for 7:00 p.m. starts.