TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Drake women's soccer team kept its unbeaten Missouri Valley Conference record intact on Sunday afternoon with a 1-1 draw on the road against the Indiana State Sycamores.
The offense was hard to come by for either side in the first 45 minutes with just four total shots accounted for. It was the Sycamores who had the advantage, however, as they tallied three shots in the first half compared to just one for the usually potent Drake attack.
The first shot attempt of the match came in the eighth minute by Indiana State and the second attempt, once again by Indiana State, wouldn't come until 20 minutes later. This attempt found the back of the net for the Sycamores, however, as Hailey Morgan snuck one past Drake goalkeeper
Kate Hopma to put the Bulldogs in a 1-0 deficit.
The lone shot of the period for Drake didn't occur until the 44th minute as
Angela Gutierrez put an attempt on net that was saved and the Bulldogs went into the halftime break trailing, 1-0.
When play resumed for the second half, Drake picked up the intensity in its search for an equalizer, and it came just 16 minutes in.
The Bulldogs took advantage off one of
Zoey Mahoney's patented flip throw-ins as the senior launched the ball deep into the box and after glancing off the head of
Kamryn Wray the ball dropped just in front of the goal. Freshman
Alexa Aylward was quick on the spot beating both her defender and the Sycamore goalkeeper to the ball and scissor kicked it into the back of the net, knotting the score at 1-1.
Drake and Indiana State would go on to each record two more shots as the clock ticked away towards 90 minutes, but to no avail and the match concluded in a draw.
"It's unfortunate that we had all of the ball in our build but couldn't get into the final third in the first half more than we did and to not make them work harder to score," Drake head coach
Lindsey Horner said. "There are so many reasons I'm proud of our response in the second half. We played a new formation and took all the momentum back and created not only the goal but some other real opportunities.
"This is our third trip to Indiana in four weekends and coming off midterm week, I wasn't sure how much gas we would have in the tank but players like Claire [Emmrich], Alexa, and Zoey were relentless today and our bench's energy was noticeable. We look forward to returning to Mediacom Stadium for our next two games."
Aylward's goal marked her fourth on the season and the Bulldogs ended the match with five total shots and three on net.
Isabella Balsley led Drake with two shots on the afternoon. Hopma made one save in her 45 minutes of play in goal and her counterpart
Addie Ford also made one save when she came in for the second half.
Drake will be back on the pitch Thursday, Oct. 15 versus Murray State from Mediacom Stadium. Kickoff against the Racers is scheduled for 1 p.m.
