DES MOINES, Iowa. – The Drake women's soccer team are the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference regular season champions. The Bulldogs defeated Southern Illinois on Thursday afternoon from Mediacom Stadium by a score of 1-0 to secure the eighth regular season title in program history. This marks the second regular season championship won by Drake in the last three seasons.
The Bulldogs and Salukis were out to the races in a fast paced first half that saw plenty of shot attempts between the two sides. Drake racked up 11 shots over the first 45 minutes of play, while SIU tallied six. However, neither side conceded a goal, and the two teams went into their locker rooms deadlocked at 0-0 for halftime.
Drake tested SIU goalkeeper, Regan Miller, throughout the first half with a couple scoring opportunities but Miller was up to the challenge and kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard making three saves in the frame including an important stop in the 30th minute off a breakaway opportunity from
Isabella Balsley.
Meanwhile, Drake's goalkeeper,
Addie Ford, matched her counterpart in Miller and also made three saves in the first half. The juniors biggest save of the half came with just :21 seconds remaining as she blocked away a close range shot attempt from Penny Warner who snuck behind the Bulldog backline.
"We felt the first half went as we expected," Drake head coach
Lindsey Horner said. "Our players had a great mindset at halftime in that they weren't frustrated and felt that a goal was coming."
When play resumed for the second half, it didn't take long for Drake to break the scoreless tie.
In the 49th minute, the Bulldogs struck as sophomore
Claire Emmerich scored her third goal of the season giving Drake the lead. Emmerich was set up by her teammates
Eve Blakey and
Angela Gutierrez after Gutierrez stepped in front of a SIU clear attempt and connected with Blakey who proceeded to lay a through-ball to Emmerich.
"The goal itself started with great defending and Eve's pass was perfect," Horner said. "Claire made a clever run and her finish was textbook."
The Bulldogs weren't in the clear just yet, however. Southern Illinois was quick in its attempt for an equalizer as Sophia Schlicklin nearly knotted the game at 1-1 off a breakaway chance. Luckily for Drake, her shot attempt missed wide and the Bulldogs kept hold of their lead.
Drake's defense, bolstered by Ford in net, carried the load the rest of the way and prevented the Saluki's from finding a tying goal and secured the shutout victory and the regular season crown.
"The game changed after the goal," Horner said. "SIU went for it and it put more pressure on our back four. We could have made better decisions at times while in possession closing out the game, but I won't complain about a shutout win at home to clinch the number one seed."
In total, the Bulldogs outshot the Salukis by a margin of 15-12 and each side had five attempts come on target. The Bulldogs also won the corner kick battle, 6-3.
Drake had six different players record two shots in the match, but Emmerich was the lone player with both attempts on net. Blakey picked up her third assist of the season, while Gutierrez tallied her fifth.
"I'm really proud of the growth of this group, how level-headed they've been throughout the season, and how focused they have been about achieving their goals," Horner added. "There have been games this MVC season that we have seen the best version of our opponent because we had the preseason number one ranking as a target on our back and teams got up to play us. That is exactly what our MVC Tournament will feel like and I'm thrilled we get to host the semifinals on Thursday."
With the win, Drake secured the No. 1 seed in the MVC Tournament. Drake's next contest will be from Mediacom Stadium in Des Moines on Thursday, Nov. 6 in the semifinal round. The Bulldogs will host the winner of No. 4 Illinois State and No. 5 Southern Illinois at 3 p.m. CT.
