CHICAGO, Ill. – The Drake University men's soccer team and Loyola battled to a 1-1 draw Saturday, Sept. 22 evening in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams at Loyola Soccer Park.
 
Drake (4-3-1) scored first with sophomore Leroy Enzugusi's (Marion, Iowa) goal in the 23^rd minute (23:22) of the opening half. Enzugusi used one touch to get past a Loyola (3-3-1) defender and slotted his shot past the goalkeeper, Josh Lagudah, far post from the edge of the 18-yard box.
 
The Ramblers pushed for the equalizer before halftime, but the Bulldogs' defense held their ground as goalkeeper, Jared Brown (Aurora, Ontario) collected two saves and two shots were blocked and one went wide.
 
Out of halftime, the two teams traded shots as neither side recorded a shot on goal for more than 35 minutes. However, Loyola evened the game in the 81^st minute (81:48) when Oskar Gustafsson collected the ball after a scramble and beat Brown.
 
After the tying goal, the Ramblers took four more shots, including a blast by Tucker Stephenson that hit the crossbar with 16 seconds left. Drake was unable to get a shot off as the teams went to extra time for the second consecutive season.
 
The Bulldogs were unable to register a shot in the first overtime as Loyola had five, including one header by Alec Lasinski that Brown saved. In the second overtime, Gustafsson flicked a header that Brown saved on the first shot of the period. Later, Drake's Steven Enna (Overland Park, Kan.) had his own header saved by Lagudah. Loyola had three more shots, including one by Stephenson that Brown saved again. The teams settled for a draw for the second-straight season.
 
Brown finished with eight saves while Enna led the team with four shots. As a team, Drake took nine shots while Loyola had 26. The Ramblers held a 9-3 advantage on shots on goal.
 
"Tonight, was a good really good competitive match up on the road." said head coach Gareth Smith. "We started the game very well and the first half was one of our best and most complete performances this season. We maintained good purposeful possession, created a number of chances and scored an excellent goal. Offensively we caused Loyola a lot of problems and could have extended our lead. The second half we just didn't get going and took too long to get into the game. The momentum shifted in Loyola's favor and they challenged us to defend for periods of time. We needed to take better care of possession and look to be more composed in key moments to play out of pressure. That being said our guys defended exceptionally well for the most part and we should have seen the game out before overtime. We got back into the game for short periods and created a few half chances later in the game, but lack a little quality in key moments. Overall a solid point in the road and one we will build on going into the game against Western Illinois."
 
Following Saturday's road contest, Drake returns home Sept. 26 to the Cownie Soccer Complex to take on Western Illinois at 7 p.m. The match with the Leathernecks will be broadcast on ESPN+.