ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Drury gained sweet revenge against the team that ended its magical NCAA-II Tournament run a year ago, as the nationally ninth-ranked Panthers blanked third-ranked Lewis 3-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both schools here on Sunday.
Drury (1-1) struck for two goals in the first five minutes of the match to stun the Flyers (0-2), who defeated Drury 1-0 at Harrison Stadium last November in the NCAA-II Tourney Sweet 16.
Freshman
Matt Hutchison got the Panthers on the board first with his first career goal, off an throw-in from senior
Alex Palmer, for the 1-0 lead just 1:47 into the match. Less than three minutes later, at 4:27 into the first half, senior
Grant Bowden scored off a header (
Peter Higgins assist) for the 2-0 advantage that stood through halftime.
Drury made it 3-0 when senior
Micah Whorton tallied in the 65th minute from 15 yards out. It was Whorton's 26th career goal, pulling him out of a tie with Matt Tuohy (1992-95) for eighth place on the all-time DU charts.
"Today was a perfect response from the guys," said Drury coach Ryan Swan, whose Panthers fell 1-0 at Ashland on Friday. "I thought we played very well for the entire game. We had several outstanding individual performances, but I was particularly happy with how we worked together as a team."
Junior keeper
Stephen Conner picked up his first shutout of the season and DU-record 15th of his career in goal in a four-save effort on the afternoon.
Drury outshot the Flyers 12-9 for the contest.
The Panthers return to GLVC play next Friday when they visit Quincy before travelling on to Illinois-Springfield for another league match on Sunday. Drury's home opener comes on Friday, Sept. 17, when they play host to Truman State in an 11 a.m. contest at Harrison Stadium.
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