SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

DES MOINES, Iowa - Three different Bulldogs registered their first career goals sparking Drake (4-1-1) to a 3-1 men's soccer victory past Fordham (2-2) on Sunday (Sept. 11) at the Cownie Soccer Complex.

"I'm tremendously pleased with the result today and parts of the performance," Drake head coach Sean Holmes commented.  "The Friday/Sunday double weekends are always challenging, of course its better to be at home than away. What was most gratifying was the fact that we were able to lengthen our bench and give meaningful minutes to some of the younger players, particularly in the attack."

"Neither programs nor seasons are made of just 11 players.  For us to continue to climb towards the top-25 we'll require a concerted effort from our whole collective team."

Sophomore Nick Marshall (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) redirected a deflection off a shot by senior Thomas Ostrander (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond Catholic) in front of the box to provide the Bulldogs with a 1-0 advantage and in the process post his first career goal 2:33 into the contest.

"I was especially pleased for Nick (Marshall) scoring our first goal," said Holmes.

Freshman Ross Payne (Overland Park, Kan/Pembroke Hill) extended the margin to 2-0 in the 30th minute (29:02) delivering a ball sent in from the corner by freshman Kyle Whigham (Overland Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas).

Matt Courtenay cut the deficit in half for Fordham scoring the Rams' lone tally at the 34:12 mark off a defensive miscue.

"When you have young players with a new goalkeeper behind such a back four there are bound to be mistakes," Holmes commented.  "What was most impressive was we rebounded from a harder than it needed to be game on Friday night, as overtime always takes more out of you physically and emotionally. We were able to finish off a team that came into this weekend undefeated and limited No. 5 Creighton to only one goal in a 1-0 setback on Friday."

Redshirt freshman Jarred Arde (Gulfport, Miss./Gulfport) culminated the scoring in the 43rd minute (42:41) striking a ball in front of the net that deflected off the hands of Fordham goalkeeper Ricky Berotti on a diving save attempt and into the net.

"Thomas (Schermoly) was a real livewire and the winning goal by Ross (Payne) and goal cemented it by Jarred (Arde) were both clinically finished and proved perhaps that they have something to offer our team sooner rather than later," Holmes stated.

Shots were even in the tilt with each side recording 15 shots.  Marshall and Ostrander directed Drake with three shots apiece, while the Rams garnered three strikes each from Nathaniel Bekoe and John Niyonsaba.

Redshirt sophomore Rich Gallagher (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) and Berotti each collected five saves in the game.

"I'm disappointed we weren't able to get Rich (Gallagher) the shutout," explained Holmes.  "We've yet to get a clean sheet and that is something we need to tidy up as the season progresses.

 Holmes had praise for several players after their performances against Fordham.

"Again Matt (Kuhn) held us together in the middle of the park and Bryan (Jantsch) proved to be a real handful attacking from the right back. Charlie (Schwartz) and Michael (Noonan) provided great creativity on the flanks and I think there aren't many schools that have such a 1-2 punch from the wing."

"It is slightly unfortunate that we weren't able to reward Thomas (Ostrander) and Hunter (Kennedy) with all their hard work, but perhaps that will make them hungrier when we head to Chicago next weekend to face Wisconsin and UIC."

Drake visits Chicago to compete in the Chicago South Loop Hotel UIC (Illinois at Chicago) Tournament against Wisconsin and the host Flames next Friday (Sept. 16) and Sunday (Sept. 18), respectively.