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Soccer’s season ends in rematch against Drake

After an exciting start to the season where the Bradley soccer team started off 4-0 in conference play and looked like the favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference, the Braves suffered a letdown Friday.

The No. 2 seed Braves were knocked out of the postseason tournament by No. 3 seed Drake with a score of 1-0, effectively ending their season.

“It was probably one of our better games top to bottom,” head coach Jim DeRose said. “It was the fewest shots we limited an opponent to all year. We had a decent amount of ball possession. Tough loss, but I can’t be upset with our performance.”

This was a rematch for the Braves and Bulldogs, as both teams squared off Nov. 7 with a shot at the MVC regular season title on the line. That game ended in a 1-1 tie, with Bradley ending up with the No. 2 seed and a first round bye.

Drake finished with the No. 3 seed and faced No. 6 Central Arkansas in the first round of the MVC tournament. Drake defeated Central Arkansas 2-0 and drew a rematch with Bradley in round two.

Drake scored the first and only goal of the game in the 10th minute after a post-penalty shot scramble.

Grant Bell handles the ball in a game earlier this season. Bell is one of three seniors on the Bradley soccer team. Photo by Ann Schnabel.
Grant Bell handles the ball in a game earlier this season. Bell is one of three seniors on the Bradley soccer team. Photo by Ann Schnabel.

“A foul got called and we were focused on getting our marks for the set piece,” sophomore defender Jacob Taylor said. “No one stood in front of the ball and they were quick, and there was a guy that was unaccounted for. It was one of the better games we played, but we had one moment that was just a lapse of concentration. It’s a 90 minute game, but one or two seconds can cost you, which is what happened to us.”

Even though the Braves weren’t able to match the goal, they put a lot of pressure on the Bulldog goalkeeper.

“We got some of the shots that we’ve gotten all year, but we just couldn’t connect on them,” DeRose said. “We had a lot of set pieces that usually work for us, but we weren’t as sharp or clean as we needed to be. But we didn’t walk out thinking we didn’t generate enough to win.”

Despite the way it ended, DeRose and the team still have a positive outlook on the season.

“If you would have pulled me aside at the beginning of the year and said, ‘listen, some of your top attackers are gone, you’re gonna be moving guys all around, and you have the fourth youngest team in America, and you’re gonna finish in second place and play in a semi-final with a chance at the championship,’ then yeah, I would say that it was a success. But still, we wanted more.”

Drake went on to win the MVC Tournament two days later, with a 1-0 win over No. 1 seed Southern Illinois Univeristy – Edwardsville.

For the three seniors on the team, Grant Bell, Andrew Brown and Joe Morales, it was the last game of their Bradley careers.

“They’re all great guys and great leaders and are people who us underclassmen have looked up to,” Taylor said. “We’re going to miss them.”

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