AUGUST 17, 2011

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake men's soccer team opened its exhibition campaign with a flourish as the Bulldogs registered a come-from-behind 5-2 victory over North Area Iowa Community College on Wednesday (Aug. 17) at Drake Stadium.

Drake head coach Sean Holmes came into the affair looking evaluate the progress of his squad after one week of preseason training and came away pleased as he was able to get 30 Bulldogs playing time in the affair.

"Tonight was a good performance in that in preseason games you're not really concerned with results, you're concerned with how guys play and I thought it was really good for us from a teaching perspective that we went down 1-0," commented Holmes.  "I think it gave us a little slap in the face, which is sometimes necessary, and I think we responded well." 

"It was particularly gratifying that we were able to play 30 healthy guys and that had been our intention at the start, of course that puts the other team at a bit of a disadvantage because they're constantly playing fresh guys, but our goal was to get as many guys meaningful minutes."

The Trojans, who are ranked No. 17 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Preseason Poll, struck first in the contest as Gerard Ben took a feed from Andrew Power at the 18:28 mark to beat a diving senior goalkeeper Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Kennedy) to give NIACC a 1-0 advantage.

The lead held until the Trojans were whistled for a handball in the box to give Drake a penalty kick in the 27th minute (26:06).  Senior Matt Kuhn (Raytown, Mo./Raytown South) delivered the strike into the corner of the net to square the game at one apiece.

Senior Michael Noonan (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) gave the lead back to the Bulldogs at the 38:16 mark when he struck a ball into the lower corner of the net after senior Hunter Kennedy's (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) initial shot was deflected off the NIACC defender.

The Trojans refused to give in as they netted the equalizer off a Robert MacGillvray goal in the 53rd minute (52:10).

Just over three minutes later (55:17) freshman Thomas Schermoly (Olathe, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) redirected a corner kick by sophomore Erik Boyer (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy) to beat NIACC goalkeeper Patrick Moore for what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Redshirt sophomore Nick Mims (Davenport, Iowa/Davenport Central) stretched Drake's lead to 4-2 with a tally at the 81:16 mark.

An own goal with 14 seconds left in the contest provided the final margin in favor of the Bulldogs.

Drake outshot the Trojans, 13-9, including 8-4 in the second half.  The Bulldogs were paced by two shots apiece from Schermoly, Mims and freshman Ryan Schultz (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine), while three Trojans each recorded two shots.

Kadlec, redshirt sophomore Rich Gallagher (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) and freshman Mitch Sackett (Keller, Texas/Central) shared the net for Drake as the trio combined for a pair of saves.  Moore collected five stops for NIACC.

"I think we have arguably the best goalkeeper in the conference in Jordan (Kadlec)," Holmes explained.  "He's probably the simplest, smartest, most-effective goalkeeper I've ever coached in college and that confidence radiates out to the team and makes a big difference." 

Holmes was also pleased with the emergence of his sophomore class, as five earned the starting assignment against the Trojans.

"I think we started five sophomores and I thought they made really good progress going from sort of timid freshman last year to looking the part a little more for Division I college athletes." 

Holmes is excited for one final opportunity to evaluate the development of his squad in the exhibition season as the Bulldogs host Loras on Aug. 24 at the Cownie Soccer Complex.  Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.

"I think our biggest challenge is sort of in the post-recovery stage from the Elite Eight in 2009," Holmes said.  "Last year we were sort of stunned by it and this year we've gone by that and I think we're ready to move on.  There was clearly tonight more leadership than maybe we had a year ago.  Having Matt (Kuhn) back has made a big difference, he's a tremendous leader, our attacking five guys are all seniors so that makes a really big difference when you have 22-year olds on the field."