OCTOBER 22, 2011
CONWAY, Ark. - A season-best five-game winning streak came to an
end for the Drake men's soccer team as Central Arkansas (2-7-4, 1-1-2 MVC) registered
a 2-1 upset on Saturday (Oct. 22) in Missouri Valley Conference action.
"Today was one of those days that
every team goes through, although hopefully just once per season," Bulldog head
coach Sean Holmes commented. "Clearly, UCA was more motivated to
succeed today."
"We gave up silly goals and failed
to capitalize on our countless opportunities. We created enough chances to win the game, including hitting
the post twice in the final four minutes of the game."
Drake (10-5-1, 3-1 MVC) was
thwarted in its attempt to give Holmes his 200th career coaching victory as the
Bears garnered their initial MVC win in program history.
Central Arkansas outshot the
Bulldogs in the first half, 9-8, and held a 1-0 lead after David Ngwenya delivered
his initial goal of the season at the 35:03 mark.
The Bears extended the margin to
2-0 on the strength of Matt Taphorn's first tally of the year in the 61st
minute (60:27).
Senior Thomas Ostrander (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond Catholic) cut the deficit in half,
2-1, connecting on his fifth goal of the year at the 63:20 mark. Earning assists were senior Matt Kuhn (Raytown, Mo./Raytown South) and sophomore Addison Eck (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin)
The Bulldogs played the final
20:21 of the affair with a one-man advantage, but were unable to net the
equalizer, despite consecutive shots by Kuhn and sophomore Bryan Jantsch (Mission Hills, Kan./Rockhurst) hitting the post at
the 86:54 and 86:57 marks, respectively.
"UCA has gotten a couple of good
results in the past few weeks and is clearly a team on the upswing, but a team
of our caliber has to respond to these type of challenges, all the time," said
Holmes.
Drake outshot Central Arkansas,
19-11, including 11-2 in the final stanza. Senior Charles Schwartz (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) paced all players with a game-high
five shots, while Kuhn, Ostrander and Jantsch added four,
three and three shots, respectively.
Daylon Schiffel led the Bears with two shots.
Senior Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Kennedy) pulled in four saves for
Drake, while Patxi Shortsleeve registered a game-high eight saves.
Holmes praised the efforts of
several players off the bench.
"We got good performances off the
bench from David (Parato), who replaced an injured Garrett (Crall), along with
Addison (Eck), who came in and provided an immediate spark and stirred up our
attempted comeback."
The Bulldogs face their stiffest
challenge of the season when Drake travels to No. 6 Creighton for a 7:00 p.m.
tilt on Wednesday (Oct. 26).
