Sept. 2, 2011
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SAN DIEGO, Calif.- The University of San Diego men's soccer team dropped their home opener to the visiting Drake Bulldogs on Friday night in the USD Nike Soccer Classic by a score of 4-2. The Toreros (0-2-0) struck first but weren't able to stave off a Drake (2-0-1) rally that consisted of four straight goals, including three goals in five minutes.
Torero junior forward Patrick Wallen put USD on the board in the 20th minute when he had a one-on-one and fired a ball off Drake keeper Jordan Kadlec's leg that ricocheted back off Wallen and into the empty net from 15 yards out. It was Wallen's first goal of the season.
The Torero lead would last until the 23rd minute when Drake's Charles Schwartz, who assisted on all four Bulldog goals on the night, controlled a corner kick and passed it to Matt Kuhn in traffic as Kuhn found the top corner of the net past Torero keeper Drew Ilijevski for his first goal of the season, tying the contest at 1-1.
Only three minutes later it was Drake's Michael Noonan notching his second goal of the year as he was assisted by Schwartz and Addison Eck for a close-range score that put the Bulldogs up 2-1 in the 26th minute.
Drake's Thomas Ostrander followed that up with a goal in the 28th minute in which Schwartz slipped a pass around USD defenders in the box leaving Ostrander with the one-on-one against Ilijevski that gave Drake a 3-1 advantage.
The Bulldogs would wait until the second half to tally their fourth and final goal of the night when, in the 51st minute, Kuhn took a pass from the far left side of the box that he corralled directly in front of Ilijevski, leaving him open for the one-on-one in which he rolled a shot past Ilijevski for his second goal of the night.
In the 61st minute, the Toreros had an opportunity to regain momentum with a penalty kick. Wallen's shot was knocked back by Kadlec toward senior midfielder Charles Blase whose follow up attempt sailed just high.
Not to go down without a fight, the Toreros answered with their second goal of the night in the 79th minute when Blase set up freshman forward Joey Dei Rossi, who recorded his first career goal, as Dei Rossi angled a shot from the bottom left corner of the box past Kadlec into the far corner of the net, cutting the Drake lead to 4-2.
That would mark the end of the Torero comeback, however, as time expired, giving Kadlec, who tallied three saves, his second win of the season and handing Ilijevski, who had four saves in the match, the loss in his first career start. USD held a 17-12 edge in shots taken while each team had six corner kicks apiece.
The Toreros return to action on Sunday, September 4th when they host cross-town rival San Diego State at 8:00 pm at Torero Stadium.
