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Drake soccer team looks to replace experience

August 23, 2010 By

Coming off its best season the Drake men’s soccer team will be in search of a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament this year. The Bulldogs finished 16-7-2 in 2009 and made it all the way to the Elite Eight. They are ranked 14th nationally heading into the season.

Drake coach Sean Holmes says it’s the first time that has happened and it has given the team some energy, knowing they have something to live up to. Holmes says they must find a way to replace six key seniors from last year’s team.

He says they had a lot of experience going into the big games last year, and while he says this is one of their best incoming classes, replacing the experience of last year will be the biggest challenge of the year.

Drake will play three exhibitions before opening the season at Michigan on September third.

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Simon Estes to sing at World Cup soccer final

July 8, 2010 By

World-renown opera star and Iowa native Simon Estes will sing to a global audience Friday as part of the World Cup finals in South Africa. The music that will accompany Estes was all recorded at Iowa State University. Professor Mike Golemo, chair of the I.S.U. music department, arranged the orchestral accompaniment for the world premiere of the song, “Save the Children, Save Their Lives.”

The music and lyrics were written by Denise Rich specifically for Estes several years ago, Golemo says. “He’s had this on the back burner, I don’t think he’s ever used it, ever performed it, and when this opportunity arose, a light bulb went off and he said ‘I’ve got the perfect selection for this.’” Golemo, I.S.U.’s director of bands, says he routinely arranges music for university marching bands that perform before perhaps 70,000 people, but the World Cup from Johannesburg has an audience exponentially larger.

“If you took everybody who watches the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Stanley Cups, all those types of playoffs and put them together, it doesn’t even come close to how many people watch the World Cup,” Golemo says. “It’s such a global audience, it’s just mind boggling.”

The last World Cup finals, held in Germany in 2006, had a worldwide TV audience of 715-million. Estes’ song was recorded on the Ames campus for the concert by a small orchestra comprised of three I.S.U. faculty members and four student music majors. Several of them played multiple instruments, including saxophone and piano, while a violinist recorded one part 20 times to make it sound like a full string section by layering tracks.

“We actually made two versions, one with his voice on it, too, in case his voice went out or something like that, then he could lip-synch it as well, but he’s planning on singing it live,” Golemo says. “The children’s voices that are on the recording, we had our recording engineer travel to Cape Town, South Africa, to record the children’s choir from his school.”

Estes, a native of Centerville, established the Simon Estes Music School in 1997 for impoverished students in Cape Town. It has grown from 60 students to an institution now serving some 300 learners in grades 8 through 12. The World Cup’s Grand Finale Concert will support the international campaign “United Against Malaria,” an effort to fight the disease. The song, “Save the Children, Save Their Lives,” will be included on a new CD that will go on sale when Estes returns to Iowa on July 17.

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Drake soccer team to wrap up spring schedule

May 7, 2010 By

The Drake men’s soccer team will close out a brief spring schedule with an exhibition against the Des Moines Menace on Saturday night. Members of the Premier Development League, the Menace open their regular season next Wednesday night.

Drake coach Sean Holmes says they are allowed to play five dates every spring and they try to play local games to keep withing their budget. He says it will be a good way for his team to head into the summer, as it is the last chance for the guys to put an impression in the coaching staff’s mind.

Drake graduated six seniors last year and they are looking to fill in the holes from that NCAA tourney team.

Drake made it all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last year.

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Drake soccer team is on the road again in NCAA tourney

December 3, 2009 By

The Drake men’s soccer team will look to earn another road win in the NCAA Tournament when they visit fifth rated North Carolina in the Elite Eight. The 24th ranked Bulldogs have already won at Boston College and number-four Ohio State to reach this point and coach Sean Holmes is not surprised.

Holmes says some people think it is a fluke, but they made the tournament last year and had a great top 25 national RPI, and lost to St.Louis. Holmes says the Bulldogs are confident no matter who the opponent is. He says they don’t spend a lot of time worrying about who they play. He says North Carolina has won a national championship, but he says there is no one that is so unbeatable that they won’t have a chance.

The winner will advance to the College Cup which is soccer’s version of the final four.

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Drake soccer team continues magical NCAA run Friday

December 2, 2009 By

A magical run for the Drake men’s soccer team continues on Friday when the Bulldogs visit North Carolina in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The winner will advance to the College Cup which is soccer’s version of the final four. Drake advanced with a 6-4 win at Boston College on Sunday.

Drake coach Sean Holmes says every second has been fun, whether they have been sitting in a plane or in a bus, or having dinner. He says there’s no sense of expectation as they are not supposed to win and they just somehow do it.

The Bulldogs left today and Holmes says that will help the team get enough rest before Friday’s game. He says before the Ohio State game they got up at 3 a.m. to fly out 6 a.m. Saturday to play on Sunday. He says they spent their time sleeping instead of preparing.

Holmes says the tournament run has been a source of personal satisfaction for him. It is his 21st year as a coach and 12th at Drake and he says he wasn’t sure in the early years after losing a lot if they would be able to turn the corner. Holmes says they have gone from good to great and it has been smooth sailing since.

Drake is ranked 24th. North Carolina is fifth ranked.

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Drake soccer advances, ISU, UNI volleyball begin NCAA tourney

November 30, 2009 By

The Drake mens soccer team has made it to the elite eight of the NCAA tournament. The 24th ranked Bulldogs claimed a high scoring affair as they won at Boston College 6-4 on Sunday. Next up, the bulldogs will play North Carolina for the right to earn a trip to the Final Four.

The Iowa State volleyball team will host the first two rounds off the NCAA tournament. The Cyclones will take on George Mason on Friday night. The other first round match pits Wichita State against St. Louis University. The winners will meet in the second round on Saturday night. The cyclones finished the regular season 25-4 and this will be their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament.

The 20th ranked U.N.I. Panthers will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska for the opening round and will go up against Washington State on Friday. The Panthers are 30-2 overall and finished 18-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Tenth rated and host Nebraska takes on coastal Carolina in the other first round contest.

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Drake soccer team on the road for Thanksgiving

November 24, 2009 By

It will be a quick turnaround for the Drake men’s soccer tam which leaves later this week for Boston and a matchup against Boston College on Sunday in the sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs advanced after stunning fourth ranked Ohio State 1-0 in sudden death overtime in Columbus.

Drake coach Sean Holmes says he got on the job training as a travel agent arranging the travel and hotels. He say most of the team will miss Thanksgiving with their family, but says this is a good reason to miss it.

Holmes says the players enjoy the challenge of playing on the road. He says anytime you win on the road that means you extend the season and get to go on another trip.

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