EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Freshman Nic Jaimes (Olathe, Kan.) and junior James Grunert (Muskego, Wis.) each scored one goal for the Drake men's soccer team in a 2-1 win over the Air Force Academy Sunday afternoon as the Bulldogs captured the 2015 ProRehab Aces Classic title. Drake (3-1) clinched the two-day tournament title with its wins over Belmont Friday night and the Falcons today.

Jaimes, who narrowly missed his first collegiate goal in each of Drake's first three games of 2015, wasted little time on Sunday breaking through. The freshmen picked off an errant Air Force (2-1) pass just 50 seconds in to the match and went one-on-one with Falcons goalie John Wendt as he blasted the ball in the lower right for the day's opening goal.

Air Force tied the game at the 17-minute mark (17:18) as Tucker Axhoj put one past Drake junior goalie Darrin MacLeod (Ontario, Canada).

The scored remained at 1-1 at halftime with Air Force holding a slight edge over Drake in shots at 5-4.

The game stayed 1-1 until late in the second half before Grunert broke the tie with his first goal of the season. Grunert collected a corner from fellow junior James Wypych (Wellington, New Zealand) with just over three minutes (86:47) left and kicked it past Wendt for the game winner.

“It's always enjoyable to win tournaments and our players should be very proud of their performances this weekend,” said interim head coach Gareth Smith. “This event was a very good test for us and provided insight into where we are in the process of shaping the team at this stage in the season. Anytime we enter a tournament the objective is twofold: perform to the best of our ability and to win and we did both so that is pleasing. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement and we must use this weekend as a platform to build and prepare for next week against Butler.”

Sunday's game was again played in hot conditions with an opening kickoff temperature of 89 degrees. Drake's win over Air Force was the first-ever in program history. The two teams had met just once before Sunday with the Falcons winning 3-0 in 1999.

“Air Force was a very difficult opponent and our players demonstrated great character and drive to find a way to win in what was a toughly contested match,” commented Smith on Sunday's match that featured 34 fouls and five yellow cards combined between the two teams.

Drake seniors Alec Bartlett (Overland Park, Kan.) and Kyle Whigham (Overland Park, Kan.) along with juniors Ben LeMay (Hugo, Minn.) and Mueng Sunday (Coralville, Iowa) were each picked to the ProRehab Aces Classic All-Tournament team. Barlett was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player.

“This was a real squad effort and every player played an important role this weekend,” Smith said. “A special mention to Alec, Kyle, Ben and Mueng for being named to the all-tournament team and to James for scoring the tournament winner. Their ability to lead in difficult moments was a critical part of the team's success this weekend.”

The Bulldogs return to the pitch in Indiana next weekend on Sept. 12 with a road game versus the Butler Bulldogs. First kick in Indianapolis is set for 12 p.m.