The South Dakota women's soccer team earned a hard-fought draw in tonight's game against Drake. After giving up two straight goals following a 1-0 early advantage, the Coyotes were able to tie the game early in the second half. A couple of quality chances by both sides were not able to break through and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. USD moves to 1-5-2 on the year while Drake brings its record to 1-4-2 in 2022.
 
South Dakota was able to take the lead early on after cashing in their second shot of the evening. After a free kick and a throw in inside the USD offensive zone, Janaina Zanin found herself with the ball at the top of the box. Zanin pushed the ball to Lexie Wood who was unguarded a few yards outside the box. Wood put a touch on the ball and fired a ball straight into the upper 90 of the goal. Wood's second goal of the year put South Dakota up less than 10 minutes into the contest.
 
Drake was able to tie the game at approaching the 13th minute of the game off the head of Avery Mertz. The Bulldogs were given a corner kick and instead of taking the corner, they decided to pass the ball to Rachel Panther who was standing near the corner. Panther instantly crossed the ball into the box and Mertz was able to sink it past goalkeeper Caroline Lewis. Drake then took the lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half. Makenna Shepard stole the ball from South Dakota near the midfield. Shepard took on three Coyote defenders and walked the line of the box. Shepard fired a ball from the far side of the field and placed it perfectly to the high and left side of the goal for the 2-1 lead.
 
Despite trailing at halftime, South Dakota was able to tie the game back up five minutes into the second 45. The Coyotes drew a free kick about 25 yards out. Joana Zanin took the free kick and tried to send the ball into the box where plenty of Coyotes were rushing towards. Instead, the kick from Zanin deflected off Drake's front wall and found the back of the net to knot the game up at two.
 
From that point on, both sides pushed to break the tie and played more aggressively. A total of 15 fouls were divvied out by the officials. Of those 15 fouls, nine of them came following the game-tying goal by Zanin. The Coyotes had one final chance the claim the game winner in the 88th minute. Ashby Johnston had a quality shot in front of the goal, but Drake's Vianey Lopez made a diving save to maintain the tie.
 
South Dakota outshot Drake 12-11 in tonight's game. Zanin led the Coyotes with three shots and two of those on goal. Shaylee Gailus, Johnston, and Wood had two shots of their own as well. Lewis played the full 90 minutes in goal and made three saves on the night.
 
The Coyotes go on the road on Sunday to wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule. USD takes on Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, with a kick-off time of 1 pm.