PEORIA, Ill. – The Drake University men's soccer team scored a pair of goals in the first 30 minutes to defeat Bradley, 2-0, Saturday evening at Shea Stadium. The win secured the No. 4 seed for the Bulldogs in next week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament where they will take on fifth-seeded Loyola.
Drake (5-10-3, 3-3-0 MVC) put eight of its 13 shots on goal with scores from Alec Bartlett (Overland Park, Kan.) on a penalty kick and Mueng Sunday's (Coralville, Iowa) first collegiate goal. The shutout win by goalkeeper Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario) was the Bulldogs' first shutout at Bradley's Shea Stadium and the Bulldogs' third ever win on that pitch.
“I'm super happy with a shutout in a place that's hard to win at, and a place where we've never had a shutout,” said Drake head coach Sean Holmes. “It was their senior night and everyone tends to play charged-up 10 percent more on their senior night. We managed to do something we don't do enough – we scored first on a well-earned penalty on [James] Wypych that Bartlett took the shot on. Then we maintained our composure and added another goal.”
Bartlett's penalty-kick goal, his second score of the season, came in the 18th minute and was followed 11 minutes later by Sunday's score inside the left post from 10 yards out off an assist from Alex Troester (Iowa City, Iowa). Troester registered a team-high four shots with one on goal while Sunday and Bartlett each put two shots on net.
Playing with a two-goal advantage on seven days of rest for the final 61 minutes of the contest, the Bulldogs were able to thwart Bradley's (8-10-0, 1-5-0 MVC) attempts to register a goal.
“Bradley played a high-tempo, super-aggressive style and we respond well to that when we have time to prepare and focus,” Holmes said. “The seven days off from our last game against Central Arkansas allowed us to do that.”
MacLeod registered four saves in goal for his fifth win of the season and his third shutout.
“I'm excited for Darrin McLeod – who is a good keeper that we don't protect enough – to earn a shutout on the road,” Holmes said. “That should give his confidence a huge boost heading into the MVC Tournament.”
The Bulldogs kick off the MVC Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 12 against Loyola at 3 p.m. at Bradley's Shea Stadium. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN3. The winner of the quarterfinal match advances to face top-seeded Missouri State on Nov. 14 at 3 p.m.
