SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

IRVINE, Calif. - Facing a ranked team for the first time this season, the Drake men's soccer team came up short in its upset bid at No. 14 UC Irvine as the Bulldogs dropped a 2-1 decision on Sunday (Sept. 4).

"Anytime you go on the road, two time zones away, and play two nationally-competitive programs you're going to expect a little bit of adversity," Drake head coach Sean Holmes.  "As good as we were for portions of our game on Friday (at San Diego), I thought we were poor for equal portions tonight.  Against San Diego we went down 1-0 before kicking into gear and it took until we were down 2-0 tonight before we awoke from our slumber."

Christian Hernandez provided the Anteaters a 1-0 lead connecting on his third goal of the campaign at the 38:44 mark.  Hernandez found the far post inside the box on a pass from Miguel Ibarra.

UC Irvine owned a decided 11-2 advantage in shots in the initial stanza with senior goalkeeper Jordan Kadlec (Hiawatha, Iowa/Kennedy) registering six saves for the Bulldogs.

"I thought Jordan (Kadlec) was very good in the first half when we got bombarded and put under pressure," said Holmes.  "For long periods of time we didn't look like ourselves and we were punished for it.  There is a reason UC Irvine is ranked, it clearly isn't a fluke."

Hernandez extended the lead to 2-0 netting his second tally of the evening in the 65th minute (64:22), accepting a feed in the box from Marco Franco.

Sophomore Erik Boyer (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy) cut the deficit in half collecting his second goal of the season delivering a header into the net at the 74:27 mark off a pass from sophomore Logan North (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North).

The momentum was short-lived as the Bulldogs were issued a red card in the 76th minute (75:38) and were forced to play the remainder of the contest a man down.

"The goal we scored was a product of a lot of hard work and determination, but the red card, something we haven't had in almost two years, was a double-edged sword, as it gave us extra adrenaline, but we were always doing it with 10 men instead of 11," Holmes explained.  "The irony of our red card being picked up by a player off the bench is that over the course of the weekend we had really good contributions off the bench from young players like Kyle (Whigham), Thomas (Schermoly) and Erik (Boyer)."

The Anteaters earned a 15-7 margin in shots in the contest, although bested by Drake in the final 45 minutes, 5-4.

Senior Thomas Ostrander (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond Catholic) and Boyer shared top-shot accolades for the Bulldogs with two apiece, while Hernandez and Enrique Cardenas each notched a game-high four shots for UC Irvine.

Kadlec was again stellar in net for Drake pulling in eight saves, while his counterpart Andrew Fontein collected three stops.

"The positive result of this is these are the type of games our program wants to play," Holmes stated.  "We always try to schedule up as much as possible in our non-conference schedule and we will continue to play this level of competition.  Our next task is to get home safely and prepare for our first home games of the year after a four-game opening road stretch."

Drake next opens its home campaign on Friday (Sept. 9) as the Bulldogs host UMKC in a 7:00 p.m. affair at the Cownie Soccer Complex.

"If we are to be competitive week-in and week-out we'll need to be more than 11 deep," Holmes commented.  "All in all, I would say that the weekend was a success, keeping in mind that we played a pretty competitive Western Illinois team last Monday.  The win at San Diego when NCAA Tournament time comes will put us in good stead with the selection committee."