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Soccer falls at MVC tourney

Junior defensman Clark Emerson started 13 of 18 matches this season and logged 1,141 minutes. photo by Justin Limoges
Junior defensman Clark Emerson started 13 of 18 matches this season and logged 1,141 minutes.
photo by Justin Limoges

The long, grueling season is now over for the Bradley soccer team. The Braves fell to Drake 2-0 in the play-in game of the Missouri Valley Tournament Tuesday to complete one of the worst seasons in Bradley soccer history, finishing 2-15-3 overall and 0-7-1 in the conference.

Despite the trying year, head coach Jim DeRose said it’s still difficult to accept the end of the season and its outcomes.

“When I hear, ‘Let’s just put this season behind us and look to next year,’ I can’t live with that,” DeRose said. “It’s always someone’s senior year. If you take that tone, how would you feel about that if you were a senior? I’d rather be 2-25 than have it end. As a competitor, people want to play the games. I’m not happy just turning the page.”

Bradley had high hopes entering the game, looking for a miracle or a swing in luck to spur some life into its lackluster season, according to DeRose.

“Any other year, we wouldn’t have even been in [the conference] tournament,” DeRose said. “With this new system, everyone plays in the tournament, so getting in there gave us a second life. We didn’t check out of the hotel that morning hoping to come back that night and to put a run together. However, Drake had the same thought process.”

Indeed, the Bulldogs managed to live to fight another day. Drake delivered the go-ahead goal in the 27th minute on a free kick from 20 yards out, which barely squeaked past the outstretched hands of senior goalkeeper Logan Ketterer.

Drake added a penalty kick in the 89th minute, but the initial goal was enough to cut the cord on the Braves’ 2016 campaign. Bradley didn’t go down without a fight, though. The Braves produced nine shots and created numerous chances throughout the game, but their efforts weren’t enough to generate a goal.

“We’ve been getting more chances in the last four games, so that carried over to [Tuesday],” DeRose said. “The chances were great. We had a couple good ones in the first half, but the best came in the second half. Everything we got was because of [junior] Richard Olson. He had a great year; everything happened around him and created all of our scoring opportunities.”

Bradley concluded its regular season three days prior Saturday at the hands of Loyola, who dealt Bradley a 2-0 loss to secure Bradley’s winless conference season, which DeRose said is “the worst record in school history.”

With the season ending loss, Bradley will bid adieu to the last remaining members of the 2013 team that played in the NCAA tournament and won an MVC championship. The losing season is not how DeRose said he envisioned the seniors’ careers ending on the Hilltop.

“It’s tough that it’s over,” DeRose said. “After the game I reflected on the seniors: Logan [Ketterer], Jason [Lesch] and Alex [Garcia]. I’ve had [Ketterer] and [Lesch] for five years, and I’ve known [Garcia] since he was eight years old. There’s going to be a big void there with them leaving because they were good students and bought into the program. They’re the last connection in the program to a championship.”

There are a couple positives from such a difficult season. DeRose said he thinks the team’s youth will play into Bradley’s advantage next season, which will hopefully lead to a brighter future.

“We have to look at a lot of players,” DeRose said. “The bright spot is that we’ll be starting a lot of players that have experience. To have a season like this, everyone looks inside himself to see what they can do better and do some soul searching. When we’ve had tough years, I always see a motivated group when conditioning starts.”

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