Drury's top-seeded soccer Panthers, ranked fourth nationally, will begin their quest for a first Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship when they take on eighth-seeded Missouri-St. Louis at 1 p.m. Sunday at Harrison Stadium.
The Panthers of GLVC Coach of the Year Ryan Swan closed out the regular season with a 4-0 non-conference win over Northeastern State on Friday night at Harrison to move their overall record 17-1-0.
UMSL comes into the match with a mark of 9-6-2, but is coming off its most impressive win of the season - a 2-1 decision at second-seeded Northern Kentucky on Sunday. The Tritons have won five of their last six matches.
Drury defeated UMSL 3-0 at Harrison on Oct. 2 in a match that was locked in a scoreless tie at halftime. The Panthers scored two goals in a three-minute span about 12 minutes into the second half, as the 1-2 punch of senior Steve Wilczewski and junior Micah Whorton came up with the scores to lead DU to the win.
Wilczewski leads the Panthers with 14 goals and Whorton has 13 goals and 12 assists. Wilczewski's two goals on Friday gave him 32 for his career, the second highest total in DU history, while Whorton added another assist and is just one away from tying junior Ben Taylor's school-record 13 assists in a season set in 2008.
Sophomore keeper Stephen Conner posted another shutout on Friday, giving him 11 on the season.
UMSL, which has outscored its opponents 27-23 on the season, is led by the six goals and three assists of Jack McKenna. Johnny O'Mara has five goals and two assists for the Tritons of ninth-year coach Dan King, who are in the GLVC Tournament field for the first time since 2006.
Drury advanced to the GLVC Tournament semifinals last season in its first appearance, where the Panthers fell to eventual champion Rockhurst in a shootout thriller in Kansas City, as the Hawks outlasted DU 5-4 in seven rounds of penalty kicks.
Sunday's match will feature free, live audio play-by-play delivered by DU media student John Miller through the Stretch Internet link available by clicking
here.
Live Stats
This Week's Panther Podcast With DU Coach Ryan Swan