Live Stats/Video #GLVCSNA senior-dominated Drury men's soccer returns to Quincy, Ill., this weekend with its sights set on bringing home the program's second Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and first since 2009 when the second-seeded Panthers play No. 6 seed Indianapolis in a 5 p.m. Friday semifinal at Legends Field.
Drury is 15-3-0 overall - including a 1-0 victory over Indianapolis in Springfield on Sept. 19 - while the Greyhounds are 10-5-3. Indianapolis advanced by knocking off third seed Missouri-St. Louis 2-0 on the road on Sunday, when the Panthers posted their second 1-0 victory over No. 7 seed Missouri S&T in five days, having defeated the Miners by the same score on the same Harrison Stadium/Curry Sports Complex turf in the league's regular season finale.
Coach
Ryan Swan's Panthers were in this same scenario in the same city a year ago, when Indianapolis stunned DU with a 3-2 overtime victory in the GLVC tourney semis and went on to claim the league title. The Greyhounds rallied from a late 2-1 deficit and scored the game-winner just over a minute into the OT period.
In Friday's other GLVC Championship semifinal, top seed and nationally third-ranked Quincy (17-0-2) will take on fourth-seed Lewis (11-4-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday's two survivors will meet at 2 p.m. Sunday for the league championship.
Despite going 2-0-0 since the previous rankings, the Panthers slipped one spot from third to fourth in the latest NCAA-II Midwest Regional rankings released Wednesday evening. Quincy is first, followed by Northwood (11-3-1) and Saginaw Valley (11-3-2), both from the GLIAC, in the second and third spots. Tiffin (12-3-1) and Lake Erie (11-4-2) of the GLIAC are fifth and sixth, with UMSL (12-4-2) seventh.
Northwood plays Lake Erie and Tiffin meets Saginaw Valley in the semifinals of the GLIAC Tournament on Friday,Â
The top five teams in Sunday's final regional rankings will advance to the NCAA-II tournament.
UIndy has outscored its opponents this season 33-12. Daniel Wellman leads the Greyhounds with eight goals and five assists for 21 points, while Jacob Meyer has six goals and Ngwese  Ebangwese has five goals and six assists. Andrew Verhonik has six shutouts and 52 saves in goal.
Drury, which has tied the 1993 Panthers for the second most victories in a season (15) in the program's history, has outscored its foes 40-11, including an 18-3 advantage in the first half.
Alec Nagel leads the Panthers with 10 goals, while
Nick Ammann - who had the lone goal (in the 22nd minute) in Drury's 1-0 win over UIndy in September - and
Jack Mathis have tallied eight goals each.
Logan Ponche has nine shutouts and 36 saves, benefiting greatly from a veteran DU defensive back line including seniors
Mike Lee,
Ryan Haas and
Eric Heet along with sophomore
David Cross.
Drury, which finished 9-0-0 at home this season, leads the all-time series with Indianapolis by a 7-5 count.
All matches of the GLVC Championship semifinals and finals will be webcast live and available for free at the league's official website, accessible at the link below.
GLVC Soccer Championship WebsiteNCAA-II MIDWEST REGION RANKINGS (November 5, 2014)Â
