Boxscore
Both teams created opportunities for themselves in the final minutes Sunday afternoon at Black Beauty Field, but it was the University of Evansville that took advantage. Abby Guerra's cross to Kaitlin Oldfield produced the game winner in the 88th minute as defending Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer champion Evansville edged Drake 2-1 in the MVC opener for both.
The Aces are now 3-6 overall going into Wednesday's 7 p.m. home match against Eastern Illinois. Drake (4-4-3) lost for the first time in its last five matches.
Evansville went ahead in the back and forth match at 22:05 when Oldfield found teammate Kristen Davis open on the right side. Davis's shot from 12 yards landed just inside the far post and out of the reach of Bulldog goalkeeper Kourtney Arnold for the first tally of the match. Drake tied it up just five seconds before halftime when Evansville was called for a trip in the penalty box. Elizabeth Woerle took the penalty kick and chipped it into the upper left corner for the equalizer.
Drake took 11 of its 17 shots in the second half, and Evansville had seven, but the only one that found the back of the net belonged to Oldfield, a sophomore transfer from Brandeis University who had not scored yet this season. Guerra made the cross from just outside the box on the right side, and it found Oldfield four yards in front of the goal for a one-timer at 87:15 that Arnold had no chance to stop.
Evansville has now won five in a row over MVC teams, dating back to last season. The win over Drake snapped a seven-match losing streak against the Bulldogs.
