EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sophomore Steven Enna (Overland Park, Kan.) scored a pair of goals and redshirt sophomore Alex Prusa (Omaha, Neb.) added another goal for the Drake men's soccer team as the Bulldogs started their Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a 3-1 win at Evansville Saturday evening at McCutchan Stadium.

“We took another very positive step forward tonight,” said interim head coach Gareth Smith. “Anytime you can win the conference opener 3-1 away from home, against a tough opponent, is a good days work. The long road trip to Evansville is always a difficult one and tonight had an extra edge to it as it is the conference opener and they had great home support. I was very pleased with the teams performance overall and we fully deserved the victory. We played very good soccer for long spells, out worked and out-competed our opponent and showed we can mix it up physically when we needed to.”

Drake (6-2, 1-0 MVC) capitalized on an early Evansville (2-5, 0-1 MVC) turnover as Enna took the miscue and went one-on-one, blasting a shot from the top of the 18 yardbox into the net to put the Bulldogs up 1-0 at the 9:19-minute mark.

The Purple Aces had the equalizer come courtesy of Mark Gonzalez with his team-leading third goal. Gonzalez scored on a header set up by his teammates, Ryan Koening and Tyrus Sciarra, at the 27-minute mark to even the score at 1-1.

The teams then battled and seemed certain to remain tied at 1-1 at the halftime, but Prusa had other ideas as he scored right before the break at the 44:42 mark. Prusa, a transfer from Creighton, scored his second career goal after being set up by Gabe Edel (Greenwood, Ind.) and Mueng Sunday (Coralville, Iowa) as Drake led 1-0 at halftime.

Enna scored his second goal at the 52:06 minute after Sunday once again set up a teammate. This time Sunday sent a long pass to the left side of the post that Enna shot into the lower right corner to extend the lead to 3-1.

“I was delighted for Steven (Enna) scoring two goals because he has been performing very well all season and has been creating very good chances and tonight he was rewarded for his hard work,” commented Smith. “His first goal was a spectacular finish from distance and shows how good a player he is.  “Also, Alex (Prusa's) desire to make a 65-yard run to get on the end of Mueng's inch perfect cross to score the second goal epitomizes our desire to do what it takes to win.”

Drake outshot Evansville, 10-8, while goalkeeper Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario) finished with two saves.

The Bulldogs welcome the Missouri State Bears to Cownie Soccer Complex for their first home league game on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.