DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Drake women's soccer team answered with clutch goals twice against an experienced Creighton side in a 2-2 draw at Drake Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 3. 

"We knew there would be stretches of this game we would not have the ball," head coach Lindsey Horner said. "Once we started to play off our target and bring midfielders into the game, the game became far more even."

Creighton (0-2-3) struck first in the 20th minute when Azumi Manriki broke away and lured Drake goalkeeper Kelti Wise out of the net before tapping the ball into the back of the net. 

A pair of freshmen combined for the game-tying goal in the 35th minute as Zoey Mahoney's free kick found the head of Angela Gutierrez at the top of the six-yard box. The duo knotted the game at one goal apiece and that remained the score at halftime. 

Once again, the Bluejays moved ahead. During the 66th minute, Gabby Grimaldi set up Savanna Solomon for the finish into the bottom right corner of the net. 

Just 50 seconds later, Gutierrez drew a foul on the right side of the 18-yard box by Creighton's Hitomi Yamaue. Senior leader Emma Nagel lined up for the penalty kick and forced it over the mits of Bluejay keeper Keelan Terrell as the match was even again, 2-2. 

Wise made three saves for the Bulldogs in goal but was helped off the pitch in the 76th minute and replaced with Addie Ford for the remainder of the contest. Drake (3-1-1) finished the physical match and fended off two more Bluejay shot attempts to seal the 2-2 draw. There were 23 fouls whistled between the two teams (15 called against Creighton, eight called against Drake). Creighton outshot Drake 10-8 including 5-4 in shots on target.

"I love our resilience to respond each time we went down," Horner said. "The two goals we conceded are fixable and the two goals we scored are repeatable so that's promising for our growth. Having Angela (Gutierrez) back absolutely impacted this result. I thought our players adjusted well as Creighton changed their approach. Overall we got better from this game and look forward to building on this as we host St. Thomas on Thursday."

Drake women's soccer will welcome St. Thomas to Drake Stadium on Thursday night, Sept. 7 under the lights at 7 p.m. 

NOTES
- The start time was pushed ahead two hours due to forecasted extreme heat.
- Angela Gutierrez tallied her second goal in three games played this season after missing both games last week due to injury. 
- Emma Nagel scored her 11th career goal, which was her second penalty kick goal of the season.
- Zoey Mahoney delivered her second career collegiate assist. 
- The Bulldogs played to their first draw of the season. In 2022, Drake played in a program-record six draws.
- Creighton leads the all-time series, 11-7-2. 
- The last time Drake and Creighton tied was on Oct. 28, 2012 in Des Moines when the match ended in a 0-0 deadlock.