CONWAY, Ark. – The Drake men's soccer team returns to Missouri Valley Conference play visiting Central Arkansas Saturday night for a 7 p.m. contest against the Bears.
The nation's top ranked team, Creighton needed two late goals to beat a resilient Drake (7-3) squad, 2-1, earlier in the week as the Bulldogs led for nearly 79 minutes.
Junior midfielder Mueng Sunday (Coralville, Iowa) put Drake up 1-0 with 46 seconds left in the first half Tuesday after he rebounded a cleared ball off his chest and squared up and sent a beautiful lofted shot over Creighton's goalie.
The Bulldogs held strong late into the second half before the Bluejays finally broke through with goals in the 78th minute and the 84th minute to take the lead as they held off a hard-fighting Bulldogs squad to remain undefeated at 11-0.
Despite being outshot 28-5 in the game, Drake had two near goals as redshirt sophomore Alex Prusa (Omaha, Neb.), a first-year transfer from Creighton, surprised the Bluejays early in the game with a long shot that drilled the right post. Later with the score tied 1-1, Sunday just missed his second goal of the game as his shot on a one-on-one nailed the post as well.
Drake, who sits in first place in the MVC standings, continues to play well with a balanced offensive attack as 10 different Bulldogs have scored at least one goal. Junior James Wypych (Wellington, New Zealand) paces Drake with three goals while six others have scored two goals.
Central Arkansas (1-9-1), who joined the MVC in 2010 as an affiliate member in men's soccer, is led in scoring by Wes Carson with a league-high five goals. The Bears haven't won a match since beating Central Baptist, 2-1, on Sept. 3. Drake blanked Central Arkansas a year ago, 2-0, as the Bulldogs lead the all-time series, 4-2-1.
Drake will have a quick turnaround after Saturday night's game as the Bulldogs travel to Western Illinois (3-7-1) on Oct. 13 for a 3:30 p.m. contest. The Leathernecks edged Bradley, 1-0, in their last game as they play at Omaha on Saturday night.
