The Bradley men’s soccer traveled to Evansville to play in the ProRehab Aces Classic over the weekend, where the team squared off against Fort Wayne and Portland.
The Braves opened up their tournament on Friday afternoon against Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) when Bradley got off to a hot start in the first half. Freshman forward John Pollifrone netted a fourth-minute goal to put the Braves up early.
“It was something I really wasn’t expecting, this being only my fourth start in five games,” Pollifrone said. “I just got a perfect opportunity, saw a gap, Perry played me a great ball through and I scored. I’m from Fort Wayne, so I knew some of the players on the team, and it was cool to play against them, but I never thought I’d be scoring my first collegiate goal against my local college, so it was a really cool experience.”
After that goal, the Mastodons bounced back in a big way, scoring two goals by the end of the first half and adding another at the start of the second half. The Braves managed to fight back, scoring two goals in the last five minutes of the contest and sending the game to overtime.
“We never stopped,” Pollifrone said. “Throughout the whole game we were down. It was a rough first half, but after halftime we came back with a different mentality. We played high pressure. We played tough defense, started with our defense and worked forward. I can’t emphasize enough how great [junior Jacob Taylor] played. [He] came in from defense, put him up top [and] scored the game tying goal.”
The Braves then gave up a golden goal in the 98th minute, giving IPFW a 4-3 win.
“Even though the result wasn’t what we expected, it was great to see that we have the mentality that we can come back, and that we constantly fight through 90 minutes of play,” Pollifrone said. “We’re a young team that will work hard for each other.”
On Sunday afternoon, the Braves played their second and final game of the tournament against Portland. The Braves were able to keep the Pilots quiet for the extent of the first half, but a trio of corner kicks to start the second half had the Braves on the ropes, ultimately resulting in a header for Portland’s first goal.
“We didn’t defend inside our penalty area well, and that was a big problem,” head coach Jim DeRose said. “When you’re down two goals, you’re playing differently, so any benefits you get out of that is more a byproduct of, you’re desperate, and the other team’s not.”
Portland kept their foot on the pedal, scoring two more goals and riding that momentum to a 3-0 shutout of the Braves.
“Overall, it was a very disappointing weekend for us, not just in the results,” DeRose said. “Up until now, I think we made really big strides, every game had been one-goal games. If you told me we’re going to go over [to Evansville] and give up seven goals in two games, I would have said, ‘Wow.’ I would have thought there would have been injuries or something, maybe a red card, so holistically it was a poor weekend. We gave back a lot of the things we had been doing well.”
The Braves will host Evansville for this year’s homecoming game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Shea Stadium followed by post-game fireworks. This will also be the first game of the Missouri Valley Conference season for both teams.
“I think the best thing for us now is to be home,” DeRose said. “It’s a conference game, it’s a massive game. Now is the first time there’s points on the line.”
The two teams are moving in two different directions at the moment. Bradley has dropped its last three while Evansville has won its last three, so the match will be a big test for the Braves to open up the conference season.
“These are the games that matter the most for us,” Pollifrone said. “For the three seniors, this is where it counts. Coming into the season, we have a really tough conference. Every team is going to put up a battle, whether we’re on the road or at home. If we start of on a good foot, I think it’s going to be a really good season.”
