That didn’t go as planned.
One year removed from winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and making it to the team’s third NCAA tournament in four years, the Braves stumbled through just their fourth losing season since 1996.
The season started with a late-night victory in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic against San Jose State. Rain and lightning delayed what eventually became a 3-2 Bradley win, but the game didn’t end until after midnight.
Looking back, head coach Jim DeRose said it seemed to set up Bradley’s entire season.
“It was an unfortunate preview of things to come, in some ways,” DeRose said. “J.T. Kotowski, one of our top defenders, tore his ACL 10 minutes into that game. We have had seven players have surgery since that time and lost close to a quarter of our team throughout the year. That’s not including guys that missed a week to 10 days with injuries.”
The Braves would then lose four straight games, allowing an average of 3.5 goals in those contests.
Two of those four teams, Xavier and San Diego, ended up making the NCAA Tournament this season. DeRose said Bradley’s tough scheduling prepares his team well but can lead to seasons like this on occasion.
“Everyone knows that Bradley plays a difficult schedule,” DeRose said. “It helps us, but for the most part we didn’t have the success we normally have against top teams in that regard.”
After the loss to San Diego, in which the team gave up five goals, DeRose began to give more time to sophomore goalkeeper Logan Ketterer.
It turned out to be a good decision, as it gave Ketterer the experience he needed when he was forced into a starting role after senior Shea Niemeyer tore his ACL against Belmont.
DeRose said Ketterer adjusted to his new role quickly.
“He came in here as the third goalkeeper, he redshirted but everything we asked him to do in the weight room during the offseason, he did,” DeRose said. “If you look at the statistics down the stretch, the save percentage and shutouts, he got the goals allowed down to one or below.”
The Braves can also expect to see more out of this year’s freshman class, which included two four-star recruits: Daniel Gardner and Richard Olson.
“Our three top recruits, two of them never played one second due to injury,” DeRose said. “Gardner had major hip surgery and Tommy Clark had a major ankle injury. Falk Dennart, our top German, had hernia surgery. He tried to play throughout the year but was only able to play sparingly at 80 percent.”
As the team turns toward the 2015 season, DeRose said their expectations will remain high, despite a down year in 2014.
“This program has been to NCAA tournaments and won conference championships, so I think for us, that’s where it starts,” DeRose said. “I don’t think kids that come here expect anything less; that’s why they come here.”
