Despite scoring the first goal of the match, the Drake University (4-3-0) men's soccer team fell to No. 18 Missouri State (7-1-0), 3-1 Wednesday in Springfield, Mo.
 
Senior Juan Louis scored in the fifth minute to give the Bulldogs an early lead.
 
Louis leads the Bulldogs in goals this season with four.

"Tonight we played a very good Missouri State team. We started the game very well with good intensity and created a few good attacking moments. We managed to take the lead through a well worked goal finished by Juan Louis," said head coach Gareth Smith. "However, we didn't sustain this for the second part of the first half and needed to take better care of the possession when in the lead."
 
Missouri State struggled to get past the Bulldog defense until the 27th minute when Nicolo Mulatero scored to tie the match 1-1.
 
Senior Jaden Stevenson registered a shot shortly after the Bears scored, but it went over the goal.
 
Less than 10 minutes before halftime, Adrian Barosen scored for the Bears after receiving a pass from Aadne Bruseth, putting them up 2-1.

Smith said, "Missouri State maintained possession well and created chances in areas of the field we need to defend more effective individually and collectively.We had a very good response for the first part of the second half as we pushed to even up the score. However as the game wore on and we committed more to the attack and the game opened up more."
 
The Bears out-shot the Bulldogs 14-3. Missouri State also received five corner kicks compared to Drake's two.
 
Drake struggled to stop the Bears as they continued to attack the goal.
 
With five minutes left of the match, Kyle Hiebert scored to put the Bears up 3-1.
 
Hiebert and Mulatero both record three goals for Missouri State this season.

Senior Declan Watters was the only other Bulldog to register a shot on goal against the Bears. 

"While there were some good things to take from tonight, we need to improve both with and without the ball. We get back to practice and go again on Sunday," said Smith.
 
The Bulldogs return to Des Moines to take on Evansville on Sunday Oct. 3. Drake will also  honor their 11 seniors prior to the 12 p.m. kickoff.