MACOMB, Ill. – Junior midfielder Rebecca Rodgers (Peotone, Ill.) scored the day's lone goal to lift the Drake women's soccer team past Western Illinois, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon in Drake's first exhibition contest of the 2015 preseason.
Rodgers took a pass from senior midfielder Rhian Pritchard (Prairie Village, Kan.) at the 16:47 mark in the opening half and buried the ball in the back of the net for what proofed to be the game winner. Rodgers is coming off a record-breaking sophomore season when she netted a program-tying 12 goals on her way to being named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team. Pritchard started every contest for the Bulldogs as a junior and was named to the All-MVC Second Team.
“Today was a good opportunity for our team,” said Drake head coach Lindsey Horner. “The list of what we need to tidy up on is obviously lengthy at this point in preseason, but today we demonstrated that we have the potential to have success within our system. We are happy with our progress after just a few days together, but also understand we have a lot of learning to do in a short period of time.”
Junior goalkeeper Brooke Dennis (Wauconda, Ill.) made her first start in the net for the Bulldogs and tallied five saves. Dennis played her first two seasons for Ball State before transferring to Drake.
Sunday's exhibition featured two standard 45-minute periods followed by an additional 30-minute extra session that allowed both teams to gain additional field time. Several newcomers for the Bulldogs played in the contest.
Drake continues the preseason then travels to Kansas and Minnesota on Aug. 12 and 15, respectively, to close the preseason.
“We have a lot of younger players that will impact our squad, and with these three exhibition games they will gain a lot of valuable experience and a glimpse of various styles of play,” commented Horner. “Overall, we got better during today's game and learned more about ourselves making the trip worthwhile. We look forward to playing a Big 12 and Big Ten opponent yet this week. It will challenge our squad to up their physical play as well as require us to compete at a very high level for a full 90 minutes.”
