CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - The Drake
men's soccer team completed its exhibition slate with perfect 3-0 record,
including three shutouts, after netting a 3-0 road triumph over Coe College on
Sunday (Aug. 29).
The game was a homecoming for eight Drake players who made their return
to Eastern Iowa to play in front of family and friends. That group was led by senior Kenan Malicevic (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa/Cedar Valley) along with redshirt juniors Charles Schwartz (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf), Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Cedar
Rapids Kennedy) and Michael Noonan
(Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier), junior Hunter Kennedy (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Washington), redshirt freshmen Nick Mims (Davenport, Iowa/Davenport
Central) and Michael Rummelhart
(Iowa City, Iowa/Regina) and freshman Erik Boyer (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy).
"I was reasonably pleased with our effort today and extremely excited
that our three goals came from kids from Cedar Rapids," Bulldog head coach Sean Holmes commented. "Having played three games in five days
with some travel thrown is always difficult, especially in the first week of
school and we were able to play a lot of guys in front of their family and
friends."
The two sides battled to a scoreless draw at halftime before Kennedy
connected off a cross from the left wing by Schwartz in the 81st minute to
score what proved to be the game-winner.
In the 84th minute, Malicevic struck from four yards out on a first-time
finish off a cross from redshirt sophomore Colin Lawter (Wichita, Kan./Wichita Southeast) pushing Drake's advantage to 2-0.
Malicevic capped the scoring with his second tally in as many minutes
with his goal from three yards out on a knockdown in the 87th minute from
Schwartz.
Kadlec started the game in goal for the Bulldogs playing 55 minutes
before giving way to redshirt freshman Rich Gallagher (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) for the remainder of the
affair.
"We showed remarkable composure to get three shutouts," said
Holmes. "We will use the next week
to prepare mentally and physically for what lies ahead."
Drake opens its campaign at Michigan, a 2009 NCAA Tournament participant,
on Friday (Sept. 3) at 6:30 p.m.
