OCTOBER 27, 2011
DES MOINES, Iowa - Junior Laura Moklestad's (Des Moines,
Iowa/Roosevelt) goal in the 40th minute (39:44) proved to be the game-winning
tally that sparked Drake (4-10-4, 2-4 MVC) to a 1-0 women's soccer victory over
in-state rival Northern Iowa (8-9-2, 2-4 MVC) on Thursday (Oct. 27) at the
Cownie Soccer Complex.
The win coupled with Evansville's 1-0 overtime triumph against Missouri
State will send the Bulldogs into the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference
Championship on Sunday (Oct. 30) for a 1:00 p.m. quarterfinal tilt on the road against
the Purple Aces.
A three-way tie between Drake, Evansville and Northern Iowa was broken
with the Purple Aces awarded the No. 4 seed and the Bulldogs and Panthers
earning the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively.
"I thought tonight was a great
battle," Bulldog head coach Lindsey Horner commented. "It wasn't the prettiest of games, but with so much on the line both
teams were competing at a high-intensity level."
"Our girls responded to a tough road trip
last weekend with a great week in training, and an eagerness to play tonight.
The ball hasn't always bounced our way this season, but our team has been
working hard to improve each week."
Moklestad netted her team-leading fourth goal off the year at the 39:44
mark redirecting the deflection off of sophomore Brittany Schuling's (Bondurant, Iowa/Bondurant-Farrar) shot to beat
Northern Iowa goalkeeper Erin Zaideman.
"Laura Moklestad covered a lot
of ground for us tonight on both sides of the ball, so it was great that she
was rewarded with a goal," said Horner.
The Panthers made things interesting in the game's final five minutes as
Kelsey Dolder's shot in the 86th minute (85:26) struck the crossbar before
being cleared out. Within a
minute, Northern Iowa had appeared to tie the game only to have a game-tying
goal wiped off by an offside call.
The Panthers garnered a 19-16 advantage in shots led by a game-high five
from Kiki McClellan. Drake
was paced by three shots from sophomore Paige Dusek (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North).
Sophomore goalkeeper Kalena Litch
(Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) registered eight saves for the Bulldogs en route to her second shutout of the season, while
Zaideman recorded four stops.
With her sixth save of the game at the 64:09 mark, Litch established a
new single-season saves record at Drake with her 125th stop of the season to
surpass Kate Stack (2002).
"We had several players that filled their
role tonight and whether they played 90 minutes, five minutes, or were on the
bench, they helped us win," Horner explained. "That's what we'll need at Evansville on Sunday. They weren't
three goals better than us, but they were better on the day at executing in the
final third. While nobody looks forward to a nine-hour bus trip to Evansville,
I'm excited to see how our players respond to getting another chance at playing
them with a trip to semifinals on the line."
Horner also applauded the effort of the Johnston-Urbandale Soccer Club at the game against the Panthers.
"Tonight was JUSC club night, and the support of JUSC to get their players out to the game was great."
