SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Three first-half goals proved too much for the Drake men's soccer team to overcome as UC Santa Barbara (4-3-1) registered a 4-1 victory past the Bulldogs (2-5-2) on Sunday (Sept. 28).
“Road trips to the West Coast are always a big task and what makes today a little more difficult is that we were so terrific in our effort on Friday night,” Drake head coach Sean Holmes commented. “We are not quite old, mature or composed enough to sustain that for two games on the road, this is after all our fifth-consecutive road game in a string of six.”
“I think giving up the early goal put us a little behind the eight ball and we spent much of the rest of the game playing catch-up.”
Ludwig Ahl garnered the game's first goal delivering his second goal of the season at the 2:21 mark to give UC Santa Barbara an early 1-0 lead.
Freshman Steven Enna (Overland Park, Kan./St. James Academy) registered Drake's first shot of the game in the 20th minute (19:16), a strike that UC Santa Barbara goalkeeper Brandon Berke corralled for a save.
The Gauchos extended their advantage to 2-0 at the 20:01 mark on a goal by Drew Murphy.
Ahl notched his second goal of the game in the 28th minute (27:26) to push UC Santa Barbara's lead to 3-0.
“We had a couple of golden opportunities down 1-0 and 2-0 to get a goal back and failed to capitalize and then we gave up a silly third goal, which ultimately was our undoing,” said Holmes.
The Bulldogs were outshot in the first half, 8-4, including 4-1 on goal.
“At halftime, we regained our composure and made some changes and did some motivation and the guys responded with a much more poised performance in the second half,” explained Holmes. “It might be fair to say we had a chance to score a couple of more goals late in the game and for us, ultimately, that is the most important thing as we head into MVC play next Saturday at Missouri State. Every conference game will require a full 90 minutes of effort and toughness.”
Reed McKenna extended UC Santa Barbara's lead to 4-0 with a goal at the 81:08 mark.
The Gauchos were whistled for a foul in the box in the 85th minute (84:04) that resulted in a penalty kick for Drake. Redshirt junior Alec Bartlett (Overland Park, Kan./St. James Academy) stepped to the line and beat Berke to the corner for his first goal of the season.
UC Santa Barbara posted an 18-6 margin in shots on the evening, including an 8-2 difference in shots on goal.
Enna collected a team-high two shots for the Bulldogs in reserve duty, while a game-high four shots from Nick DePuy paced the Gauchos.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) recorded a game-high four saves for Drake. Berke finished with one stop for UC Santa Barbara.
“Alec (Bartlett) and Jimmy (Grunert) were very good at the heart of our defense and Mueng (Sunday) and Ben (LeMay) as the game went on brought back control to the midfield,” said Holmes. “We still have some of our guys that still have to grow up and that never happens overnight, so we'll continue the process of getting better and finding our best 11 and seeing who it is that is prepared to fight for all 90 minutes.”
Drake returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 4) opening its Missouri Valley Conference slate at Missouri State. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
