ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Drake men's soccer took on the Billikens of Saint Louis in its 2026 non-conference finale on Tuesday evening. The Bulldogs struck first, but Saint Louis was able to concoct a tying effort as the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw in the gateway city.
"Two-game road swings can be a real grind," Drake head coach
Pat Flinn said. "Dropping the first one [at Evansville] and having to come to SLU for the second match was a real challenge for this group."
Drake managed just two shots in the opening period as both sides were careful in selecting their opportunities.
Judah Shalit fired off an early attempt that was wide right while
Jack Dancer shot once, which was saved by SLU's Lucas McPartlin.
The Billikens were able to shoot twice in the last six minutes of the first half, with Drake's keeper
Tomas Butkovic making his second save of the night on one of those tries, but the two squads went to their respective locker rooms in a scoreless stalemate.
SLU had to more tries in the first few minutes of the second half, but Butkovic was there again for another stop. His solid defensive play kept the Dogs alive until Drake's offense found a gap.
In the 64th minute,
Jack Dancer collected the ball on Drake's half of the field and maneuvered toward the midfield stripe. He laced a pass between multiple Saint Louis Billikens to a streaking
Evan Carlson, who found himself on a breakaway. Carlson outran the SLU defense and shimmied the ball past McPartin for the game's first goal.
Drake held their narrow advantage until the late stages when Saint Louis was able to come up with the equalizer. Luke Adams was assisted by Guilherme Gomes and JC Cortez in the 82nd minute to knot the game once again.
Barrett Kitts managed to find the target as the clock ticked underneath five minutes to play, but McPartin made a save this time to keep the tie intact. The 1-1 score subsequently confirmed as Tuesday's final tally.
"I'm disappointed we didn't hang on," Flinn continued. "It looked pretty clear that our goalkeeper was run into on their set piece goal, but at the end of the day our performance and attitude were always going to be more important in this match than the outcome. We grew as a team on the road this trip and will be ready for our nest action. Go Dogs."
Carlson, Dancer, and Kitts were the only Bulldogs to find the target as Drake took three shots on goal in total. Saint Louis had four. The Billikens also outshot Drake 10-4 overall.
Drake will be back in action this Saturday as it returns to Mediacom Stadium on Oct. 3. The Bulldogs will kick off against Belmont at 6 p.m.
