SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drake women's soccer team took to the pitch on Thursday afternoon for a contest in the semifinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament against the UIC Flames. The Bulldogs pulled out a 1-0 victory over the Flames despite having to play with 10 players for most of the second half.

"What a fun game that was," Drake head coach Lindsey Horner said. "We knew UIC would give us more of a game than they did in the regular season. We had two great chances early, but credit their goalkeeper for making excellent saves in both those moments."
 
The first 45 minutes of play saw plenty of action between Drake and UIC as the two squads combined for 14 shots. The Flames tallied nine attempts with three coming on target, while the Bulldogs ripped off five shots with four coming on net. This kept goalkeepers Addie Ford and Francesca Faraci busy, but neither keeper let a shot by and the halftime horn sounded with a 0-0 draw on the scoreboard.
 
After the break, the Bulldogs found themselves having to play with 10 on the field just minutes after resuming. In the 49th minute, Zoey Mahoney received a red card taking her out of the contest.

"[UIC] were incredibly dangerous on the counter," Horner added. "I believe Zoey ending the counter was the right decision, but so unfortunate to go down a player and lose someone with her skillset. We decided not to play for a tie, but to keep going for it, and our players rose to the occassion."
 
Despite having to carry on one player down, Drake staved off UIC's offensive attack and came through when the opportunity presented itself.
 
In the 69th minute, Eve Blakey changed the course of the match scoring her seventh goal of the season to give the Bulldogs the lead. Madelyn Smith started the play connecting with Hannah Renz just in front of the midfield line and Renz sent a long ball into the box finding Blakey who had ran past multiple defenders and flicked it over the Flames goalkeeper.
 
With just over 20 minutes remaining on the clock UIC pressed forward trying to find an equalizer, but Ford and the Bulldogs backline held the Flames off the board to secure the 1-0 victory.

"There were so many tremendous individual performances tonight and great moments," Horner concluded. "Hannah Renz was huge for us, Addie Ford got her first start in a long time and was flawless, and what a goal by Eve. Angela had a perfect slide tackle in the box, Layla put in a huge defensive header, and Snowden, Lily and Avery weren't phased by losing our right back. For Delaney, Maia, and Balsley to come in cold and play with the poise and intensity that they did was impressive. Overall that was a gutsy performance from our team, and I believe some of tne losses we endured earlier this season helped us to be resilient tonight and prepared us for this shutout win."
 
The Bulldogs were outshot in match by a mark of 18-6 as UIC got off nine more shots in the second half. Ford stonewalled the Flames in net tying her season-high for saves with eight. Offensively, Blakey had the lone shot for Drake in the second and led the team with two shots on goal along with Mahoney.
 
With the win Drake advances to the MVC Tournament Championship match for the second consecutive year. The Bulldogs will take on the winner of the semifinal match between No. 1 seed Missouri State and No. 4 seed Belmont. The title match is slated for Sunday, Nov. 10 with kickoff at 1 p.m.