CINCINNATI, Ohio – Xavier scored two goals in the first half on its way to a 3-0 win over the Drake men's soccer team on Sunday, Aug. 27 at the XU Soccer Complex.
The road defeat was the season opener for Drake (0-1) who compiled a 2-1 record in three preseason home exhibition contests. Xavier (1-1) rebounded from its opening loss to Loyola in overtime on Friday night.
"You win or you learn and tonight we learned about a few areas we need to tighten up on and improve," said Drake head coach
Gareth Smith. "Xavier is a very mature and strong opponent and they challenged our young team to grow in areas that we need to in order to compete with some of the top teams in the country. This run of games on the road were purposeful so that we could stretch ourselves and gain experience in tough environments which is good for our programs development."
Freshman
Erik Fahner (Omaha, Neb.) fired the match's first shot at the 9:30 mark, but it was blocked. It would be the only shot for Drake in the opening half as Xavier recorded 16 shots. The Musketeers scored their first goal in the 29
th minute (29:10) as Cameron Taylor scored his second goal of the season. They added another quickly as Samson Sergi scored in the 30
th minute (30:22).
Later Xavier had its final goal in the 60
th minute (60:40), coming from Matt Vasquenza. In the final 10:35 of action, Drake fired four shots, including a shot on goal by freshman
Leroy Enzugusi (Marion, Iowa) in the 88
th minute that was saved by Xavier goalkeeper Zachary Nelson.
Juan Louis (Minneapolis, Minn.),
Alex Peterson (Duluth, Minn.) and
Aleksi Tuominen (Helsinki, Finland) all recorded one shot.
Drake had 11 freshman or redshirt freshman play in the match. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper
Caden McCullough (Evansville, Ind.) made his first career start and finished with four saves.
"There were several positive takeaways from tonight but there were some aspects of our defending that got exposed and need to improve," Smith said. "We regroup and get ready for another exciting challenge on the road against Air Force and Denver next weekend."
Following the Xavier match, Drake will visit Air Force on Sept. 1. The Bulldogs will stay in Colorado to play at 2016 College Cup participant, Denver, on Sept. 3.
