STOCKTON, Calif. – The Drake University men's soccer team opens the 2016 season at Pacific Friday night with a 9 p.m. CST match. Drake will play one more match in California on Sunday night at CSU Bakersfield with another 9 p.m. CST start time.
 
Drake enters the regular season coming off a 3-1 win over Northern Illinois in its final exhibition match of the preseason. The Bulldogs split their other two exhibition matches with a win over Iowa Western and a loss to Eastern Illinois.
 
Drake, who won the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference tournament, was picked to finish second in the MVC preseason poll as voted on by the league's coaches. The Bulldogs bring back nine starters from last season's team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Offensively, the Bulldogs are led by senior midfielder James Wypych (Auckland, New Zealand), who last season scored a team-leading seven goals and top assist leader, senior Mueng Sunday (Coralville, Iowa), who handed out seven assists a year ago. Senior Ben LeMay (Hugo, Minn.) returns after scoring three goals and handing out four assists.
 
The Bulldogs' defense will be led by senior goalie Darrin MacLeod (Waterloo, Ontario), who started all 21 matches as a junior, and posted a .769 save percentage and 1.14 goals against average. Senior defender James Grunert (Muskego, Wis.) returns as well. Grunert scored the game-winning goal to beat Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Drake rallied to beat Pacific, 2-1, last season at Cownie Soccer Complex in the first-ever match between the teams. Drake and CSU Bakersfield will play each other for the first time on Sunday.
 
The Bulldogs will next play at Omaha on Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.