Alanna Pennington and the Drake women’s soccer team captured the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title with a 1-0 victory over Southern Illinois on Thursday afternoon at Mediacom Stadium.
It’s the eighth regular season crown in program history and the second in the last three seasons for the Bulldogs, who finished 6-2-1 in the conference and raised their overall record to 9-5-4.
Pennington, a junior midfielder and a former Ankeny Centennial standout, has played in 16 games with 11 starts in her first season at Drake. She played two years at Western Illinois before coming home and joining the Bulldogs’ program.
Pennington played all 90 minutes in Thursday’s match as Drake outshot the Salukis by a 15-12 margin. Claire Emmerich scored the game’s only goal, her third of the season, in the 49th minute.
“We felt the first half went as we expected,” Drake coach Lindsey Horner said. “Our players had a great mindset at halftime in that they weren’t frustrated and felt that a goal was coming.”
Pennington, who has scored one goal on nine shots this season, has twice been named the MVC’s Defensive Player of the Week. She was honored for the second time earlier this month after the Bulldogs’ 3-0 win over Indiana State, which ranks as one of the more potent offenses in the league but was held without a single shot in the entire match.
Pennington was also honored last month after Drake’s 5-1 victory over Valparaiso in its conference opener. She netted a header off a free kick set piece in the second half for the fourth goal of her college career.
Top-seeded Drake could face the Salukis again in the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament. The Bulldogs will host the winner of No. 4 Illinois State and No. 5 Southern Illinois on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Mediacom Stadium.
“I’m really proud of the growth of this group, how level-headed they’ve been throughout the season, and how focused they have been about achieving their goals,” Horner added. “There have been games this MVC season that we have seen the best version of our opponent because we had the preseason No. 1 ranking as a target on our back, and teams got up to play us. That is exactly what our MVC Tournament will feel like, and I’m thrilled we get to host the semifinals on Thursday.”