The Bradley soccer team kicked off its 2018 fall season with an opening weekend against Gonzaga University and Oral Roberts University. The Braves came out with a hard-fought draw against the Bulldogs and a win against the Golden Eagles at Shea Stadium.
On Friday, Bradley hosted Gonzaga in a game that ended up going into extra time. Last season’s opener, featuring the same two teams, also went into extra time, with the Bulldogs winning 2-1.
Bradley head coach Jim DeRose said the Bulldogs were a difficult opponent to face in the opener, especially with recent injuries plaguing the team.
“[Gonzaga’s] movement and passing is very crisp,” DeRose said. “It’s a very difficult opener for us, because we’ve had three players out with injuries – Jack Lang, who has had a broken arm, and Jacob McKee and Brandon Eley, who are our depth in the back.”
The Bulldogs started off hot with three shots within the first 14 minutes, but Bradley struck first. Sophomore forward Gerit Wintermeyer scored Bradley’s first goal of the year off an audacious 25-yard free kick in the 19th minute of regulation.
It didn’t take long for Gonzaga to respond as the Bulldogs scored two goals of their own in the first half. The first goal came when Gonzaga forward Quinn Liebmann set up midfielder Joe Corner, who scored from 12 yards out in the 32nd minute.
Just 10 minutes later, the Zags scored their second goal. Freshman Demitrius Kigeya scored a low-driven shot collected from the edge of Bradley’s box to give Gonzaga a 2-1 lead in the 42nd minute, ending the exciting first half.
The second half was highlighted by a handball in Gonzaga’s box from defender Garrett Wilson. As a result, the Braves were awarded a much-needed penalty in the 71st minute. Senior defender Alex Ciaramitaro scored after blasting his shot straight down the middle, fooling Gonzaga goalkeeper Ben Willis, to dive to his left.
Neither team scored in the remaining time of regulation, requiring the game to go into two 10-minute periods of extra time. Gonzaga had close opportunities, but Bradley redshirt-junior goalkeeper Albert Reinwart made two huge saves in the dying minutes.
Reinwart made a total of six saves throughout the game. While he was impressed with the team’s overall performance, he noted that small improvements still need to be made.
“It’s just simple things we need to do better at, like channeling runners away [from our goal],” Reinwart said. “[There are] smaller details we need to be better with defensively, but I’ve got to give credit to the defensive work and box clearances.”
Junior midfielder John Pollifrone also made a goal-line clearance, which allowed the Braves to finish the game out with a 2-2 draw against the Bulldogs.
Sunday afternoon was another close contest as Bradley faced Oral Roberts. Junior forward Roman Schindler gave Bradley the early lead in the 18th minute, scoring after great combination play from his fellow teammates redshirt-junior forward Jha’Lon Johnson and Wintermeyer.
Oral Roberts tied the game at 1-1 with a goal in the 36th minute from Alex Torres. The Golden Eagles senior midfielder found himself into open space on the wing and finished a near-post shot that beat Reinwart.
The second half started in Bradley’s favor, as they outshot their opponents 12-7, but neither team found the back of the net for the majority of the 45-minute half.
In the final minute, the Golden Eagles had a vital counterattack opportunity. Junior Chavez, however, would see his shot deflect off the crossbar in what nearly ended the game.
The Braves took this opportunity to desperately send the ball down field, to which sophomore midfielder Younes Dayekh collected near the touchline and crossed into the box.
Schindler met Dayekh’s shot with a header that he finished towards the net, deflecting off of goalkeeper Miles Motakef into the net with only two seconds remaining. Bradley took the win 2-1.
“The goal happened really fast, and I still can’t believe how close it was to the end,” Schindler said. “[The goal] was a great service from Younes [Dayekh], and I knew ‘this is it.’ So, I just made my run, jumped and headed the great ball from Dayekh into the goal. And afterwards it was one of the greatest and relieved feelings.”
Schindler’s header was recorded as Bradley’s latest goal in regulation time, just notching Jason Herrera’s goal in 1993, which was scored with 13 seconds left. Schindler was named MVC Offensive Player of the Week for his heroics.
Reinwart had four saves against the Golden Eagles, helping him complete his first win in net for the Braves. Reinwart said on Friday that the team needed to be more complete for the full game. This seemed to have translated well against Oral Roberts.
“If we’re battling for a [full game], we need to be good from front to back,” Reinwart said. “We need to hang in there and get our chances. When they bring the pressure on, we need to have each other’s backs as a whole team.
The Bradley soccer team will be back in action against IUPUI at 4 p.m. tonight in Indianapolis.
