A year ago, freshman Tito Lara led the Northwestern soccer team with six goals. But Lara transferred to Lewis University after the season, partly because of the team’s focus on defense.

With Lara gone, Gerardo Alvarez has stepped up to lead the Wildcats offense, scoring five times in the season’s first eight games.

The freshman, an Aurora, Ill., native, netted both of NU’s goals in the team’s 2-0 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sept. 17. For his efforts, Alvarez was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

Fresh off his dominating performance, Alvarez and the Cats (2-2-3) are looking to build on their momentum tonight when they meet Drake in Des Moines, Iowa. The Bulldogs (5-1-1) are off to their best start in school history but are coming off a loss to San Diego State.

In their last meeting with Drake, in 2001, the teams battled to a 1-1 tie. That season, coach Tim Lenahan’s first at NU, the Cats finished with a 1-13-3 record.

NU rebounded in 2002 with an eight-win season, but Lenahan said this year’s squad is his best since he arrived in Evanston. Now, even if the Cats give up a goal or two in the first half, he says they have the offensive power to win the game.

“In the past we’ve had to get a shutout in order to be successful,” Lenahan said.

The Cats lost second-team All-Big Ten goalkeeper J.D. Martin to graduation after last season, but NU has received strong play from his replacement, Brian Hackenback. The sophomore netminder recorded his first career shutout against Wisconsin-Green Bay and carries a 1.78 goals against average into Tuesday’s matchup.

After playing in just three games for the Cats in 2002, Hackenback has logged every minute of each game game this season.

Hackenback is one of a many underclassmen seeing significant action for NU this season. Lenahan’s team features just three upperclassmen and only two of them play regularly.

Seven sophomores and three freshmen join senior Jeremy Cook in the Cats starting lineup.

“It’s not a big deal,” senior Jeremy Cook said. “The talent level has definitely increased since I got here. We seem to be working with each other — the team aspect has grown a lot stronger.”

With so many underclassmen, the Cats aren’t looking to compete for the Big Ten title this season. But that doesn’t bother Lenahan.

“We’re not worried about the record so much,” Lenahan said. “We worry about getting better. The record will take care of itself. Each day, we’ll get a little better.”

Against Drake, the Cats are gunning for their third straight win — something that hasn’t happened much in the past few years.

Still, despite their modest winning streak, the Cats aren’t following any of soccer’s superstitions.

“Guys haven’t really been talking about it,” Cook said. “Everyone is washing their socks and everything.”