No. 2 DRAKE 2, No. 4 EVANSVILLE 1

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake Bulldogs captured their first-ever State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship with a 2-1 victory over Evansville on Sunday afternoon at the Cownie Soccer Complex.  The win was 12 years in the making for head coach Sean Holmes, who by virtue of the Bulldogs' triumph had registered his 100th career coaching victory at Drake and more importantly had collected the school's first automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

NCAA tournament pairings will be announced on Monday (Nov. 16) between 4:30-5:00 p.m. CT on ESPNews.

The Bulldogs won their championship behind a defense unit that for the second consecutive contest saw their opponents hold a decisive advantage in shots, as Evansville owned a 23-12 differential.

A testament to the Bulldogs' starting defensive backline of Calvin Clark, Julien Edwards and Brian Wurst along with sophomore Thomas Ostrander was their resolve as their efforts were the cornerstone to Drake's efforts in securing the victory.  Junior Michael Drozd was equally impressive in net recording seven saves, including several spectacular stops, to go along with a pair of critical team saves.

The Bulldogs began the scoring in the affair in the 27th minute (26:29) when sophomore Michael Noonan fired a shot from outside the top of the box which effortless floated like a perfect knuckleball past Evansville goalkeeper Phil Boerger to give Drake a 1-0 lead.  A short touch pass from sophomore Hunter Kennedy provided the assist on Noonan's fourth goal of the season.

The Purple Aces squared the affair at one at the 31:35 mark when Mike Luttrull fired a shot inside the 18 off a Tad Kreamalmeyer pass.

The game-winning tally came after Evansville was whistled for a trip just outside the right of the box, setting up a free kick by Kevin Shrout.  Converting on the opportunity, Shrout fired a shot that bended through and deflected off the Evansville defense into the net for his third goal on the campaign.

The score held up through staunch defensive play by the Bulldogs the rest of the half as Drake had earned its way into the field of 48 in the NCAA Tournament.

Calvin Clark was named as the tournament Most Valuable Player and Webb, Edwards and Shrout joined him on the all-tournament team.

The Bulldogs must now await Monday's NCAA Tournament announcement to see when and where their memorable campaign will continue.