PEORIA, Ill. – The Drake University men's soccer team scored early, but couldn't find the back of the net again in a 3-1 loss to Loyola in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Shea Stadium in Peoria, Ill.
Drake (5-11-3) saw its season come to a close despite holding a 16-8 lead in shots and striking first in the fourth minute of the contest with freshman Steven Enna (Overland Park, Kan.) putting sophomore James Wypych's (Wellington, New Zealand) pass through the box past the keeper.
“I felt good when we scored early and felt confident that we'd be in good shape,” said Drake head coach Sean Holmes.
Enna was one of three Bulldogs who rattled off three shots with all three of his being on goal. Redshirt junior Alec Bartlett (Overland Park, Kan.) and redshirt sophomore Ben LeMay (Hugo, Minn.) each added three shots.
“Enna played well and had a really good goal,” Holmes said. “We made opportunities, but in tournament play you have to turn those opportunities into goals.”
Loyola (8-5-5) tied the game in the 21st minute on Elliot Collier's header at the left post off Brody Kraussel's first assist of the day. Twelve minutes later, Loyola hit the gamewinner with John Capuccitti redirecting Kraussel's shot into goal.
“On the first goal we had a player go down with injury and that was inexperience in not fighting through that and on the second goal we had some breakdowns,” Holmes said.
Despite surrendering the lead, the Bulldogs retained their composure and put shots on target, but couldn't find a way past Loyola goalkeeper Tim Dobrowlski who successfully defended seven shots.
“We continued to play well and move the ball around,” Holmes said. “But their goalie came up big and we didn't capitalize on our opportunities.”
Loyola's final score came in the 83rd minute on an own goal as the Bulldogs pressed late in an attempt to generate scoring chances.
While the loss ends the Bulldogs, 2014 campaign, Holmes is optimistic about the future for his young team and the progress is made throughout the season.
“There were a lot of positives this season, but the challenge has been sustaining excellence because we have been really good at times,” Holmes said. “I don't think there was a lot of difference between the two teams, but we are a young team without senior leadership. Every one of our starters, with the exception of Thomas Schermoly, returns next year. We will need to make sure that chronological transformation carries over to the field.”
Before turning attention to the 2015 season, the program can look forward to a trip to Mexico during the winter months.
“Our short term energy is focus now on our trip to Mexico in January,” Holmes said. “There was a lot of good this season, but a lot of work to do and we'll start on that tomorrow.”
