CARBONDALE, Ill. – It was a battle between the number one and number two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference on Sunday afternoon as the Drake women's soccer team went up against the league leaders Southern Illinois from Carbondale. The Bulldogs rallied from two goals down with three second half scores to claim a vital 4-2 win in the chase for the MVC regular season crown.
Drake was put in a rare situation to start the match as Southern Illinois was on the board in just a matter of minutes. The Saluki's struck in the seventh minute of action when Maya Dixon got free behind the Bulldog backline and put her shot attempt into the lower left corner of the goal despite Drake goalkeeper
Addie Ford getting a glove on the attempt.
The Bulldogs nearly had a response in the 15th minute as
Isabella Balsley broke free, but she was denied on a diving save by Reagan Miller to keep SIU's lead intact. That lead then grew for the Saluki's six minutes later.
After SIU earned a corner kick, Dana Nadda booted a cross into the box and waiting for it was Katrina Young. An unmarked Young proceeded to head the ball over the goal line for SIU's second goal of the period and now Drake faced a 2-0 deficit.
The deficit for Drake was cut in half, however, with freshman
Alexa Aylward taking it upon herself to get the Bulldogs on the board. Following her substitution into the match in the 24th minute, it didn't take long for Aylward to spring into action. The Lenexa, Kansas product gained possession of the ball just behind the midfield line on Drake's defensive side of the pitch and dribbled all the way to near the top of the SIU box. After a stop-and-go move to shake free from her defender, Aylward let a shot rip from distance into the upper corner of the goal to make the score 2-1 in the 29th minute where it remained for the rest of the half.
The Bulldogs went right back to work when play resumed for the second half and it was Aylward coming through to provide the equalizer in the 47th minute. Aylward's second score of the match was set up off a Drake throw in starting with
Zoey Mahoney launching the ball into the SIU box using her patent flip-throw technique. Mahoney's pass found the head of
Izzy Snowden who flicked it on over to Aylward waiting at the back post for the tap in goal.
Drake's set pieces continued to give Southern Illinois trouble and the Bulldogs cashed in off those opportunities two more times to secure the win.
The Bulldogs took over the lead in the 61st minute with a nearly identical goal to their equalizer. Mahoney was back on throw in duties and sent another flip throw toward the SIU goal where Snowden placed herself under the ball and, just like she did before, flicked the ball over to her teammate. Only this time it was
Claire Emmerich getting a foot on the volley from Snowden and scoring.
The final goal of the match went to
Angela Gutierrez in the 68th minute. This set piece score was delivered via free kick by Mahoney with a long ball into the attacking area and after a couple of bounces between players Aylward was able to knock it back to Gutierrez waiting at the top of the box to fire away. The senior settled the ball to her feet, lined up her shot, and kicked a screamer past the SIU keeper giving Drake the two-goal advantage.
"We hyped this game up to our players as two teams that want the ball on the ground and are going to connect passes, but we knew we were going to get pressed hard," Drake head coach
Lindsey Horner said. "To start the game, we tried to bring down bouncing balls and play out when we needed to be more risk adverse. I'm so happy for Alexa to take over the game and change momentum when she stepped on the field. You could feel the momentum swing in our favor and at this time of the season momentum is real.
"Being down two goals on the road to the top team in the league standings and finding a way to take over says a lot about the fight in this group. It doesn't get any easier hosting Illinois State who ended out season last year, but our squad is hungry."
Following her two-goal performance, Aylward now has seven goals on the season. She also picked up her first assist on the year as well. Meanwhile, Emmerich added her second goal of the year, and Gutierrez ended her three-game goal drought for her team-leading 10th goal. With Mahoney and Snowden each picking up a pair of assists the duo upped their season totals to eight and three, respectively. Drake's lone save in the match was made by
Kate Hopma who replaced Ford in the second half.
The Bulldogs' next match will be on Sunday, November 1 versus Illinois State. Drake will host the Redbirds for a 1 p.m. kickoff from Mediacom Stadium for the final home game of the regular season.
