Men's soccer suffers close loss against Drake
Mike Vaught
Issue date: 10/9/09 Section: Sports
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The only goal of the game came in the 49th minute when Drake midfielder Kevin Shrout kicked a penalty shot past junior goalie Andrew Ryan to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 win.
"It's one of those bang-bang plays where you can lose the game if you don't hold the ball," said head coach Eric Johnson. "That's soccer, one minute, one second of just a little mistake and you're going to get punished, and we got punished on that."
Ryan replaced senior goalkeeper Stephen Paterson in the second half. Paterson started the game and made two saves in 45 minutes. Ryan made three saves but committed a foul inside the box and Drake was rewarded with the penalty kick.
"It's next to impossible, if you guess right and the guy hits it weakly then you can get it," Johnson said. "But if you go right and they guess that or hit the ball solid then it's very difficult."
The two combined to make five saves in the match, and it will be up to Johnson to decide who gets the start on Saturday.
"We have faith in both our keepers, and if you don't play them then they won't stay sharp," Johnson said. "Andy's a good keeper he deserves to play, so I decided on Monday that I'd give them both a half. Then we'll move forward and make a decision on who's going to get the game Saturday. So it's not that Paterson played poorly we just wanted them both to stay sharp."
The Leathernecks and the Bulldogs finished the first half tied at zero and neither team had a clear advantage entering the second period.
The game ended with the Bulldogs holding a (13-11) shot advantage, as well as a (6-4) shots on goal advantage.
"There were some good moments in the first half, and I thought we were pretty good," Johnson said. "I thought we were average in the second half. Why, I don't know. It might be that some guys were sick or tired after classes."
This was the 'Necks second consecutive 1-0 loss and fourth of the season.
"Just score a goal, that's it, just score a goal," Johnson said. "And if they score one, then score one back to make it even. That's what I told them, 'we got to score.'"
The 'Necks host IUPUI (1-6-3) on Saturday and have only one more day to prepare for the Jaguars.
"We don't have a lot of time to work on anything because we're a little beat up," Johnson said. "The biggest thing is can we keep the ball? IUPUI is a team that's been playing low pressure, so they drop everyone into their half of the field and make you pick them apart. We're going to have to pick them apart with good passing and dangerous balls in the box."
Saturday's game against IUPUI begins at 1 p.m. at John Mackenzie Alumni field.
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