Bradley soccer found themselves down multiple goals to Western Michigan during their Homecoming game on Saturday. The Braves mounted a comeback attempt with a header and a penalty, but ultimately, those two goals were just short of the Broncos’ three.
The big factor both teams had to worry about? The rain.
From the first kickoff to the final whistle, there was a massive downpour, making it much more difficult for the two conference opponents to compete.
“The weather played a huge part for both teams on the night,” Bradley head coach Tim Regan said. “[With] this kind of rainfall, the game’s going to get sloppy. You can’t predict where the ball is going to go sometimes, it skips, and then people slip and it’s both ways.”
In the sixth minute, the Broncos scored their first goal. After a great save by senior goalkeeper Drew Berry, the ball bounced over to Western Michigan senior forward Jonathan Stout, who slotted it into the net to take a 1-0 lead.
However, that proved to be the only goal of the first 45 minutes. With Bradley down one, Regan reassured the team they were still in it at halftime.
“We had a positive last 20 minutes of that first half, and the goal was to continue it,” Regan said. “The game is hard enough as it is, and conceding those early goals makes it a lot harder, but the fight-back of the group was fantastic.”
On the defensive side, the Braves gave up 11 shots in the first half. Once again, the weather had a considerable impact on the backline and the players felt they did well considering the circumstances.
“We haven’t played once in the rain this season, so it was quite a new experience for us,” sophomore defender Anel Kafedzic said. “I think we handled it well to the best of our capability, but we just didn’t put enough effort at the end of the day, and we’ve just got to move forward.”
In the same way, the attackers found difficulties in the rain, leading to only three shots from the Braves.
“Being a striker, you see a lot of balls in the air and you get water in your eyes, you have people slipping, you get a bunch of natural circumstances that happen, and you just have to learn to handle it,” junior forward Mitch Coughlon said.
Bradley handled this situation better in the second half, but not immediately. Just over 90 seconds in, sophomore forward Sahel Yessen scored another Western Michigan goal.
Thirteen minutes later, the Braves had a corner kick. Junior forward DJ Koulai sent the ball flying into the box, only for it to find Kafedzic’s head after a bounce. A Western Michigan defender tried to slide in and block it, but the ball went over the line, giving the Lindenwood transfer his first goal of the season.
“[It] felt great. I saw hope in us coming back, but it wasn’t enough at the end,” Kafedzic said. “[Western] are a very strong, direct team. They’re aggressive and they’re very well-known in this conference, and it’s a great opponent.”
The winning goal came in the 67th minute. Western Michigan redshirt senior forward Roni Sylejmani received a grounded pass from the right side, found a shot, and scored, giving the Broncos the 3-1 advantage.
However, the final goal came with less than seven minutes left. A Western Michigan defender brought Coughlon down in the box, bringing him to the penalty spot. He calmly shot it left, giving the Braves life in the dying moments of the match.
“It felt good for a second, and then I realized we’ve got to score one more or two and hopefully win the game,” Coughlon said. “I knew we still had more work to do, and when I put it in, it felt good, it got us closer to a tie or a win. But unfortunately, we didn’t get it.”
Bradley put up two more shots between the penalty goal and the 90-minute marker. Koulai and junior forward Ian Ferguson saw great opportunities, but both were off target. The Braves now have a record of 2-7-5, continuing a seven-game winless streak.
With three games to go in the regular season, Bradley is currently in last place out of eight teams in the Valley with a 0-3-1 conference record. After this one, Regan hopes the team can learn lessons and build on this result.
“Lessons is a great word,” Regan said. “It’s something we’ve talked about all year, where we have to look at the mistakes that are costing and eliminate them. There’s no other way to think, and so, we’ll keep going down that pathway and make it better.”
The Braves return to action on Friday, traveling four and a half hours southeast to face conference foe Evansville at 6 p.m.
Be First to Comment