DES MOINES, IOWA - Playing before a near-capacity crowd of 1,632 at the Cownie Soccer Complex, Drake and Creighton waged a classic men's soccer game as the two Missouri Valley Conference heavyweights battled to a 3-3 double-overtime tie on Saturday night (Nov. 7).

The two sides registered 22 shots apiece in a contest that will serve as a prelude to a rematch between the Bulldogs and Bluejays on Friday (Nov. 13) in the semifinals of the State Farm MVC Championship at the Cownie Soccer Complex starting at approximately 6:00 p.m.

The tie secured the number two seed in the event for Drake and raised its mark to 11-6-2 overall and 6-3-1 in league play, while Creighton saw its record move to 7-3-5 on the year, including 4-2-4 in the MVC.

"That was an awesome college soccer game," Bulldog head coach Sean Holmes commented. "I think what you saw was dynamic action between two heated rivals. We went to their place and shut them out so we knew they were going to come back and try to get a little revenge and at this point in the season when everyone is tired, and we've been playing mid-week-weekend games for five weeks, there are going to be sloppy mistakes, there is going to be tiredness."

Senior Garrett Webb (Prairie Village, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) made the most of his final regular season home game as he gave Drake a 1-0 advantage with the first of his two goals on the night at the 36:36 mark. 

Webb redirected a deflection off of junior Matt Kuhn's (Raytown, Mo./Raytown South) shot that was saved by Creighton goalkeeper Brian Holt into the net for his eighth goal of the season.

As they did all night, the Bluejays had an answer as Josh Moran netted his first tally of the season in the 40th minute (39:08) to square the affair at one.  A defensive misplay allowed Moran to go 1v1 with Bulldog redshirt junior goalkeeper Michael Drozd (Harwood Heights, Ill./Loyola Academy).

Fresh off the bench, junior Kenan Malicevic (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Valley) converted a rebound off a save of junior Nick Foster's (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) shot just 36 seconds later into his fifth goal of the season to send Drake into the intermission with a 2-1 lead.

The contest remained in favor of the Bulldogs until the 76:55 mark when Sergio Castillo collected his first goal of the year on a laser that beat Drozd top shelf off an assist from Moran to tie the game at two.

Creighton then seemingly stole the momentum in the 88th minute (87:31) when Chris Schuler headed in a feed off a corner by Moran to give the Bluejays their first lead of the evening, 3-2.

Thirty-nine seconds later Webb headed in the game-tying goal at the 88:10 mark in a scrum in front of the net.  The tally was Webb's team-leading ninth of the season.

Neither team put a shot on goal in the first overtime session, but all three shots in the second overtime stanza required a save to ensure the tie.

"The character of the guys to be down after giving up that silly of a goal with two and half minutes left and then to come back and score a tying goal, those guys on senior night didn't want to have their last minute on this field be a loss," said Holmes.  "I thought in overtime we create chances to score but we have to finish them."

Drake registered 22 shots in the contest, led by six from Webb and three apiece courtesy of Kuhn and redshirt sophomore Michael Noonan (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier).  Creighton garnered five shots from Ethan Finley and three apiece off the feet of Dion Acoff, Moran and Kris Clark.

Drozd registered a team season-best eight saves in the match, while his counterpart, Holt, collected five stops.

The Bulldogs honored eight seniors before their final regular season home contest as Calvin Clark (Overland Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas), Brian Wurst (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill South), Julien Edwards (Ottawa, Ontario/De La Salle), Kevin Shrout (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit), Ted Schleisman (Verona, Wis./Middleton), Luke Gorczyca (Overland Park, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas), Webb and Tom Spiess (Roseville, Minn./Totino-Grace) were recognized for their career accomplishments.

"The seniors (Calvin Clark, Brian Wurst, Julien Edwards, Kevin Shrout, Ted Schleisman, Luke Gorczyca, Garrett Webb and Tom Spiess) to play with that sort of fight and grit shows what they've been all about and hopefully their biggest legacy will be the guys who've been waiting their turn to play will understand this and know what it is to fight and how hard you have to work," Holmes explained.

The Bulldogs now turn their attention towards the State Farm MVC Championship that gets underway at the Cownie Soccer Complex on Friday (Nov. 13).  Top-seeded Missouri State will battle fourth-seeded Evansville at 3:30 p.m. before Drake tangles with Creighton in a 6:00 p.m. showdown.