DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's soccer team edged the DePaul Blue Demons, 3-2, in a back-and-forth contest at Cownie Soccer Complex on Saturday night.

“It was a great result tonight, to beat a BIG EAST team is always a positive result for any team,” said Drake head coach Gareth Smith. “It was an exciting game of college soccer, end to end, and its always more pleasing to be on the back end of a 3-2 victory.”

Drake (5-2) struck first in the game as freshman Nic Jaimes (Olathe, Kan.) scored his second career goal at the 13:14 mark in the opening half. Junior Ben LeMay (Hugo, Minn.) fed Jaimes, who chipped in his shot over DePaul goalie Mack Robinson, to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.

DePaul (1-6) regrouped scoring the next two goals, courtesy of Erik Rodriguez and John Freitag, respectively at the 33:01 and 54:40 marks. Hans Wustling assisted both Blue Demon goals.

The Bulldogs battled back as LeMay scored the equalizer at the 59:32 mark. LeMay deposited a header into the back of the net off an assist from senior Alex Troester (Iowa City, Iowa).

“The team showed a lot of character and composure in their ability when we fell behind,” said Smith. “We clawed back in to the game through shear effort and a willingness to outcompete DePaul, who credit to them is a very good team. It was pleasing to show we didn't panic and we showed good composure in coming back.”

The two teams battled for over 36 minutes with the score at 2-2 before Drake broke the tie at 85:41 mark with the game winner coming from sophomore Gabe Edel (Greenwood, Ind.). Edel, who scored in his second consecutive game of the season, took a pass from junior Mueng Sunday (Coralville, Iowa) and flicked it past Robinson to complete the rally for the Bulldogs.

“Significant credit to Ben (LeMay) for not only setting up one of our goals, but also going on to score one himself,” Smith said. “Also credit to Gabe (Edel), who has really contributed the last several games, and tonight he popped up with the game winner.”

Drake junior goalie Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario) tallied five saves in the win. DePaul recorded 17 shots to Drake's 16 while the Blue Demons had seven shots on goal to six for the Bulldogs.

Drake has a week to prepare for Missouri Valley Conference action as the Bulldogs open league play at Evansville next Saturday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m.