CHARLESTON, ILL. - Redshirt junior Michael Noonan's (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) goal in the 69th
minute (68:58) provided the game-winning tally in Drake's 2-1 men's soccer
victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday (Nov. 6).
The triumph secured
the No. 4 seed for the Bulldogs at next week's State Farm Missouri Valley
Conference Tournament in Peoria, Ill. Drake will enter its showdown with No. 5 Bradley on Wednesday (Nov. 10) at 6:00 p.m. with an 8-7-2 record, including a
4-2-1 league mark. The Panthers
closed their campaign at 4-12-1 overall and 1-5-1 in conference action.
"It is always difficult to go on
the road and play someone on Senior Day, especially this being the last game
ever in the MVC for Eastern Illinois," Bulldog head
coach Sean Holmes commented. "Our intention today was to not only
win, but to preserve our general well-being, while not playing our starting 11
for the entire 90 minutes. We were
able to get 20 guys playing time this afternoon, which will help as we enter
the MVC Tournament next week. The
guys who came off the bench gave us some key minutes."
Drake stole the early momentum in
the initial stanza when junior Michael Thaden (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) netted his fourth goal of the season
at the 7:43 mark. Connecting off a
free kick, Thaden sent a worm-burner from the top corner of the box through the
Eastern Illinois defense to provide the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
The margin held until Alex
Harrison knotted the affair at one with his third goal of the year at the 43:01
mark.
The Bulldogs held a 5-3 advantage
in shots in the first half.
The Panthers statistically
controlled the run of play in the final 45 minutes as Eastern Illinois outshot
Drake 12-4, to finish the tilt with a 15-9 margin in shots.
Breaking the stalemate was Noonan
and the Bulldogs parlayed strong defense into the triumph. The tally was set up by junior Thomas Ostrander (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St.
Edmond Catholic), who flicked on a ball with a header from the halfway line by
senior Nick Foster (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) into Noonan, who calmly delivered the ball into the open goal.
Redshirt junior Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Cedar
Rapids Kennedy) made two saves for Drake in the first half before giving way to
redshirt freshman Rich Gallagher (Lake
Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest Academy), who pulled in three stops in the second half
en route to notching his first collegiate victory in net.
"Rich (Gallagher) was really
quite good in goal in the second half," said Holmes.
The final margin was nearly 3-1
but an offside's call at the 58:37 mark disallowed a goal by Ostrander
"We created scoring chances but
were unable to finish them off in the first half and we gave up a silly goal with
two minutes left in the half," Holmes explained. "After having one goal disallowed by Ostrander to go and
then to continue to attack was good.
The last 20 minutes was far closer than it needed to be, but we knew they
(EIU) would never quit."
Thaden paced Drake with a
team-high two shots, while eight other Bulldogs registered one shot. Eastern Illinois was directed by a
three-shot performance from Harrison.
Holmes praised the efforts of
redshirt freshman Joe Lyons (West
Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) and freshman Logan North (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) in the victory.
"Joe (Lyons) was very good out of
the back, while Logan (North) settled in for the full 90 minutes for the
injured Matt (Reindl)."
Drake now enters tournament play
looking to defend its 2009 MVC Tournament title, won 2-1 over Evansville last season
at the Cownie Soccer Complex.
"To play as we did on a
choppy field shows our depth and what the future brings and now we'll turn our
attention to Bradley next week," Holmes stated.
