DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's soccer team kept its undefeated season intact on Saturday night as it earned a hard fought victory over DePaul, 1-0, from Mediacom Stadium.
 
Through the first 45 minutes of action, the Bulldogs and Blue Demons matched each other relatively evenly on the pitch. Drake and DePaul both had a couple of opportunities to find the back of the net, but neither side was able to put a tally up on the scoreboard.
 
The Bulldogs fired off six shots in the first half, while the Blue Demons totaled four first half attempts. Tomas Butkovic had to make just one save against DePaul's attack in the early goings, while Santiago Davila was kept a little busier with the Bulldogs and had to make three saves.
 
Coming out of the break, the two sides still were in search of the matches first goal well into the second half. That changed, however, in the 74th minute of play.
 
The Bulldogs took advantage of DePaul turnover deep in their defending area and went on the counterattack immediately. Jonathan Mendez began the chance as he was the one who created the turnover by stealing the pass from the DePaul defender. He then found his teammate, Crew Alvarez, all alone in the middle of the box who ripped a right-footed shot into the lower left corner of the goal to put the Bulldogs ahead.
 
With just over 15 minutes remaining in the match DePaul picked up their attack as it tried to find an equalizer. The Bulldog defense behind Butkovic, however, remained stout in their efforts as the goalkeeper kept his clean sheet intact making a couple of key saves down the stretch to secure the victory.

"Results and performances don't always align in soccer," Drake head coach Pat Flinn said. "Tonight wasn't a great performance, but a great result against a strong DePaul side. Our schedule lightens up now and we will get healthy, and get after it in training. Credit to our guys for surviving this stretch without dropping a match and credit to Jonny Mendez and Crew Alvarez, two freshmen, for creating the goal that won us the match. Go Dogs."
 
Alvarez's game-winner marked the freshman's first career goal. For Mendez, he earned his first point of the season with his assist. Jackson Kirsch paced the Drake offense with three shots and two attempts coming on target. Butkovic, meanwhile, earned his second shutout of the year after making five saves on the night.
 
As a team, Drake was outshot by DePaul, 11-9, but the two teams matched each other in shots on goal with five aside. The Bulldogs did win the corner kick battle, however, 4-2.
 
Drake remains at home for its next match which will take place next Saturday, Sep. 20, from Mediacom Stadium as the Bulldogs host Oral Roberts. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.