DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's soccer team kicked off its conference slate of the 2025 season on Saturday night from Mediacom Stadium and held its unbeaten record intact with a draw against Northern Illinois, 1-1.
 
It was a physical match from the opening whistle between the Bulldogs and Huskies as the offensive chances came at a premium. In the first half, the two teams tallied just four shots apiece. However, Drake did capitalize on one of those attempts.
 
In the 25th minute, Drake looked to strike first with Preston Kipnusu going on the attack and bringing the ball into the NIU defensive box. In hopes of not letting Kipnusu get past for an open shot, NIU defenseman Amara Kamara took down the sophomore in the box giving Drake a penalty attempt.
 
Damian Segura stepped up to take the penalty for Drake and after his initial attempt was saved by the keeper, Segura stayed alert and followed his shot to collect the rebound attempt and send that into the back of the net.
 
The score of 1-0 in favor of Drake remained for the following 20 minutes of play in the first half and the Bulldogs went into the locker room with the lead.
 
The second half played out similarly to the first, but the physicality picked up a notch as NIU looked to find an equalizer.
 
That chance ultimately came in the 64th minute for the Huskies. Jakub Drazek was able to sneak one past Tomas Butkovic after receiving a cross from the other side of the pitch from his teammate Katai Mukuka to knot the game at 1-1.
 
The remainder of the match proved to get a bit chippy between Drake and NIU as multiple yellow cards were issued to both teams due to the physical play on the field. None of the cards led to any goals, however, with the scoreboard still reading 1-1 when the final horn sounded.
 
Drake came close to breaking the tie in the 81st minute off a free kick set piece, but Kipnusu's header nailed the crossbar and was eventually cleared out by the NIU defense.
 
"Disappointed in our second half," Drake head coach Pat Flinn said. "We need to do more while we are playing with a lead and it's been a common theme too often this season. We need to put a game like that away, but credit to NIU for doing enough to get the equalizer. Next action, go Dogs."
 
Drake and NIU matched each other evenly in shots and shots on goal in the match with the teams each recording seven shots and four attempts on target. Drake won the corner kick contest by a mark of 3-0. In total there were 41 fouls committed in the contest and 10 yellow cards issued to the two teams.
 
Segura paced the Bulldog attacks with three shots and had all three attempts come on net. Kipnusu was next in line with two shots and Barrett Kitts had his only shot attempt come on net as well. Butkovic ended his night making three saves.
 
Drake hits the road for its next match as it travels to Chicago to challenge the UIC Flames on Friday, Oct. 3. Kickoff from the Windy City is slated for 7 p.m. CT.