Box Score OMAHA, Neb. – The No. 1 ranked Creighton Bluejays rallied to beat the Drake men's soccer team, 2-1, Tuesday night at Morrison Stadium.
The nation's top ranked team, Creighton (11-0), needed two late goals to beat a resilient Drake (7-3) squad who despite being outshot 28-5 led for nearly 79 minutes in the road contest.
“Very proud of the team tonight,” said interim head coach Gareth Smith. “It was a strong performance by us especially from a defending perspective. Very disappointed we didn't beat the No. 1 ranked team in the country because obviously they are a very good team as we saw tonight. To be up 1-0 78 minutes in to the game we thought we could see through the game plan and peel off the win. It wasn't to be, but that doesn't take away from the overall performance that was very strong.”
Junior midfielder Mueng Sunday (Coralville, Iowa) rebounded a cleared ball off his chest and squared up and sent a beautiful chip shot over the Creighton goalie Connor Sparrow to give Drake a 1-0 lead with 46 seconds left in the first half.
“Mueng has had a very complete performance both tonight and in many other games,” Smith said. “He scored a fantastic finish tonight, the best goal of the game, and later he hit the post. He's contributed so much and his willingness to help the team has been outstanding.”
Creighton tied the game at 1-1 in the 78th minute as Timo Pitter had a shot blocked by Drake goalie Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario) and then Pitter rebounded the miss and shot the ball in the net.
The Bluejays took the lead at 2-1 in the 84th minute after Ricky Lopez-Espin scored off an assist from Vincent Keller. The play started with a Creighton corner kick that was blocked by MacLeod before Keller gathered the ball and found Lopez-Espin for the game winner.
The Bulldogs had two shots hit the post that were mere inches from being goals. The first was by redshirt sophomore Alex Prusa (Omaha, Neb.) early in the game as Prusa, a first-year transfer from Creighton, surprised the Bluejays with a long shot that drilled the right post. Sunday's near goal was after the score was tied 1-1 as the junior midfielder raced past the Bluejays' defense as his shot hammered the right post and was cleared.
Drake returns to Missouri Valley Conference play on Saturday at Central Arkansas with first kick against the Bears set for 7 p.m.
“The goal is to always have high standards and tonight we maintained high standards for long periods of the game," Smith Said. "We must have the same tempo and standards for Central Arkansas. To be up tonight for 78 minutes and have two other shots off the post it was an outstanding performance.”
