The Basics
Drake men's soccer begins its home slate with two exhibition matches against in-state opponents. The Bulldogs will battle Grand View for the Des Moines Community Shield on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. before playing host to William Penn on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 5 p.m. Both matches will be played at Cownie Soccer Complex.
Top Returners
Senior midfielder
Louis Yuill led Drake in assists (five) a season ago to pace the Bulldog returners with seven points. Forward
Bradan Allen is a graduate student who knocked in a pair of goals and an added an assist during the 2021 campaign. Graduate student defender and Dublin, Ireland native
Declan Watters converted a goal and contributed two assists for Drake last year.
Pat Flinn Takes the Helm
Pat Flinn, a coach who has been part of championship soccer programs throughout his life, was named head men's soccer coach at Drake University on Jan. 5, 2022.
"We have 14 returning players that represent everything we want in our team's culture and have added 14 new players since I began in January that will be a great fit," Flinn said. "Blending all this together is an exciting challenge; as cliché as it sounds, our goal is to grow and improve every day. I envision us being a much more difficult opponent that many of our opponents may anticipate and believe we can get to the level necessary to compete for the league title by November. This is my 10
th season as a coach in college soccer; they've all been a blast, but I've never anticipated a season more than this one."
Flinn recently completed his third year as head coach at the University of Chicago. In 2021, he guided the Maroons to a 16-6-1 record and the season culminated in the program's fourth-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III national semifinals. Through two seasons as head coach at UChicago (the Maroons did not compete in 2020 due to COVID-19), Flinn's teams recorded a 28-8-6 record, including an 11-3 mark in University Athletic Association (UAA) play, and twice qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to UChicago, Flinn was an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator for Loyola Chicago, spending the 2017 and 2018 seasons with the Ramblers. The 2018 Loyola team reached the Missouri Valley Conference championship match for the first time in school history. During his time at Loyola, he had three recruits earn MVC all-conference honors, produced the 2018 MVC goalkeeper of the year, and in both 2017 and 2018 the Ramblers produced their first-ever Major League Soccer Draft picks. The student-athletes Flinn recruited helped lead Loyola to the 2019 MVC Championship and NCAA Tournament.
MORE ABOUT GRAND VIEW & WILLIAM PENN
Grand View and William Penn both compete in the Heart of America Conference as a part of the NAIA. The Vikings finished 11-6-2 during the 2021 season that included an opening round appearance in the NAIA Tournament. The Statesmen also qualified for the NAIA Tournament after a 13-8-0 regular season in 2021.
