Even though it is only the third week of school, the Drake men’s and women’s soccer teams have been hard at work bringing home wins for the Bulldog community. With games against the University of Kansas and Marquette University, both teams have put in the work leading into Missouri Valley Conference play.
The Drake women’s team played against the University of Kansas on the road on Aug. 31. The women took on Kansas on the Jayhawks’home turf, and although the Bulldogs had just come off a two win streak and a tie against Iowa State University, fell 3-1 against the Jayhawks. Sophomore forward Isabella Balsley scored Drake’s only goal in the last few minutes of the game. Although this wasn’t the result the Bulldogs wanted, it was a game that helped gauge where the team sat going into their next game against the University of Omaha on Wednesday.
“Before this game, we felt that we were trending in the right direction, and although we didn’t get a result today, I believe this performance made us better,” head coach Lindsey Horner said. “Wednesday is going to come fast, but a home game will do us well this week.”
In the game against Omaha on Sep. 3, the Bulldogs had two strong goals for the win of 2-1. Senior midfielder Lauren Kullberg secured the first goal of the game for the team with an assist by senior defender Maia Bentley. Omaha then scored just two minutes later to even the score to 1-1. Just four minutes after this, junior defender Zoey Mahoney scored with assists by redshirt senior midfielder Madelyn Smith and junior midfielder Mika Marolly to end the scoring of the game.
This win moved the Bulldogs’ overall record to 3-2-2 going into the team’s game on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. against the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits for Drake’s annual Mental Health Awareness Game.
On the men’s side, the team played three games in the past week that all ended on the positive side. The team swept Graceland University 3-0 with sophomore forward Preston Kipnusu, junior midfielder Dalton Visconti and redshirt freshman forward Snorre Espersen all scoring goals for the Bulldogs within the same 40-minute span. Although Graceland is a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics team, meaning they play at around a DIII level, the team always challenges Drake with its best foot forward.
“Hats off to Graceland,” head coach Pat Flinn said. “They came and competed and earned the respect of our squad. Our mission is to keep growing and improving in this phase of the season.”
The Bulldogs then took on the University of Omaha on Sept. 3 and went 1-1, with the lone Drake goal coming from junior midfielder Jackson Kirsch off a penalty kick. This tie against Omaha was the motivation the team needed before traveling to the University of Tulsa on Sept. 6.
Drake won this game 2-1, with Kipnusu starting off the game just 16 minutes in for the Bulldogs. Tulas managed to score a goal just three minutes later, but the tie would last until 83 minutes into the game when Kirsch scored on a penalty kick and secured the Bulldog win.
“Massive road performance and result for the team tonight,” Flinn said. “We’ve grown every match, and that’s the thing I’m most excited about.”
Drake sits at 3-0-2 for the season with no losses to date, and will look to continue this streak going into the week of Sept. 8. The team will have played the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m., before traveling to DePaul University on Sept. 13.
