NOTRE DAME, IND. - The Drake
men's soccer team knew it was going to be tested at the Mike Berticelli
Memorial Tournament this past weekend and Sunday (Sept. 12) was no exception as
the No. 22 Bulldogs came up short in dropping a 2-0 decision to No. 18 Indiana.
The Hoosiers improved to 2-2 on the campaign with the win while dropping
Drake to 1-3 overall.
Indiana cracked the scoring column first when Andy Adlard converted a
penalty kick at the 33:58 mark to provide the Hoosiers all the offense they
ultimately needed en route to claiming the first regular season meeting between
the schools since 1994.
"Today was another step in our evolution as a team this year," Drake
head coach Sean Holmes
commented. "We knew this weekend
would be extremely difficult, but these are the games we want to play. Just like on Friday, we had moments of
real quality, but as of yet we aren't able to sustain long periods of
excellence."
"Against programs like Indiana and Notre Dame you have to take advantage
of opportunities and we don't quite have the killer instinct yet."
Nikita Kotlov added an insurance tally for Indiana in the 70th minute
(69:26) beating Bulldog redshirt junior goalkeeper Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Kennedy) short post off
a feed from Will Bruin.
Drake was outshot in the tilt, 31-9, with redshirt juniors Charles Schwartz (Bettendorf,
Iowa/Bettendorf) and Michael Noonan
(Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) and juniors Thomas Ostrander (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond Catholic) and Michael Thaden (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) each registering two
shots to pace the Bulldogs.
Indiana was sparked by a seven-shot performance from Bruin.
Kadlec finished the contest registering a game-high six saves, while
redshirt freshman Rich Gallagher
(Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) didn't record a save in playing nearly
nine minutes in his collegiate debut.
"Once again Jordan (Kadlec) was exceptional in goal and Nick (Foster)
set the tone for our level of competitiveness," said Holmes. "I think to some degree we
underestimated how much it would hurt us playing without Kenan (Malicevic), an
extremely dangerous senior striker and not easily replaced."
Senior starter Kenan Malicevic
(Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Valley) missed his second consecutive contest after
injury forced him to leave during the second half of the Bulldogs' contest at Oakland
(Sept. 5).
Twenty-three Drake players saw action against the Hoosiers, including 10
true freshmen, and this was not lost on Holmes.
"What was most encouraging was the fact that we played a significant
portion of the second half with a team comprised of 11 freshmen and that bodes
well for the future," Holmes stated.
"The biggest task in the short term is trying to sort out what our best
11 is and how much give we can absorb and still be competitive."
Kadlec and Schwartz were tabbed as All-Tournament selections.
Drake opens its home campaign on Wednesday (Sept. 15) as the Bulldogs
host UMKC in a 7:00 p.m. contest at the Cownie Soccer Complex.
"I think the boys will be excited to get back and play a home game after
four grueling matches on the road," Holmes explained. "How we respond to UMKC will be an indicator to how the rest
of the season will unfold."
