Springfield, Mo. - Peacock men's soccer (3-7-1, 2-5-1 GLVC) lost, 4-1, against the Drury (Mo.) Panthers (3-3-5, 3-3-3 GLVC). Julian Mesen and John Pranger both scored their second goals of the season in Sunday's contest.
Upper Iowa scored in the 30th minute to cut the deficit to 2-1. Timur Nagy lined up on the bottom right side of the pitch and threw the ball toward several players. Julian Mesen came away with the ball after a Drury defender deflected it with a header and executed a bicycle kick past the goalkeeper into the top right corner of the net.
Both of Drury's first-half goals came off corner kicks. The first happened during the fifth minute, when Rian Mulherin headed the ball off an assist from Joe Loughnane into the bottom left corner. Carson Morgan added the second goal later in the half; he also found the bottom left corner, and Samuel Tagg earned the assist.
The Panthers added two more goals in the second half. Gage Vehr found the lower right corner off an assist from Mulherin in the 52nd minute. Just four minutes later, Loughnane scored on the lower left side from another Tagg assist, extending the lead to 4-1.
Upper Iowa tallied its second goal of the night in the 68th minute after Abraham Navarro sent a cross that deflected off a Panthers defender and fell to Arnas Kurakinas near the five-yard line. Kurakinas kicked the ball off his left foot toward Pranger, who headed it into the upper right corner to make it 4-2. Despite the Peacocks' push in the second half, Drury held on for the win.
Mesen's goal marked his first since Sept. 11 against St. Cloud State, while Pranger's was his first since Sept. 19 versus UIndy. Dexter Garrett led the team with two shots, while he and Kurakinas each recorded an assist.
JJ Gonzalez-Hayes appeared in his third match of the season, his last coming on Sept. 11 against St. Cloud State. Gonzalez-Hayes had two back-to-back saves in the 75th minute.
Upper Iowa was outshot 19-10, committed more fouls 17-8, and had fewer corner kicks 9-5.
UIU has two home games next week, with the first one on Friday at 5 p.m. against Missouri S&T (2-2-4, 3-3-5 GLVC) and the second one on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against No. 20 Lincoln (Mo.) (7-0-3, 5-0-3 GLVC).
