The Braves were back on the field in the Louisville Slugger Dome — 446 days after their last competitive game — against the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Bradley came out on top with a 3-2 scoreline in a thrilling season opener on Wednesday night.
Head coach Jim DeRose had his former assistant Ronnie Bouemboue sitting across the sideline as the head coach for Eastern Illinois. Bouemboue was a part of DeRose’s staff in 2013 and 2014, the former season seeing the Braves win the Missouri Valley Conference championship and beat Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Unlike what the scoreline would suggest, the Braves and Panthers had a quiet first half. Bradley had the slight upper hand with nine shots compared to EIU’s five but could not muster a goal.
After a scoreless hour, both teams opened up more in the last half-hour of the game by delivering all five goals in the final 30 minutes of the contest.
The Braves broke the deadlock in the second half just three minutes after the hour mark. Redshirt freshman Jack Armitage hit the crossbar on a header and sophomore captain Rasmus Smidtslund was on deck to head in the rebound from point-blank range.
After 65 minutes of play, only two minutes after their first goal, the Braves doubled the score through Malte Winkler. The German redshirt sophomore cut in from the left flank off a pass from redshirt senior Sadiq Mohammed. His first shot was parried away by EIU’s goalkeeper Landon Dove, but Winkler was able to tap in the rebound.
The Panthers gave themselves hope four minutes later. Gorka Delgado found Julian Smith who was able to beat Bradley keeper Bryce Logan on an impressive strike from 30 yards out.
Freshman Patrick Fishburn extended the Braves’ lead with 10 minutes left in the game. Winkler intercepted the ball on the right flank and beat an opponent before sending in a low cross that Dove slightly deflected with his glove. Fishburn was at the right place however and made no mistake from four yards out and finished in the empty net.
Due to the weather, Bradley has started its season playing in the Slugger Dome. The indoor baseball and softball facility has forced the players to adjust to playing on dirt and turf with much smaller dimensions.
“The good news is that’s where we have been practicing since we got back,” DeRose said. “Our biggest adjustment was to not be able to run in attack in transitions and counters, not as much space behind their defense and in the wide areas.”
Fatigue also played a big role in the slew of goals both teams conceded in the second half, according to DeRose.
“Nobody has played games in 400 days, most teams struggled to get their fitness and their running outdoors,” DeRose said. “We joked with [Bouemboue] if there were 10 more minutes the game might have finished 5-4.”
With a shortened season, conference wins are that much more important, DeRose affirmed. The lack of normalcy is no excuse in light of the team’s goals heading into every season.
“There is going to be a championship, we got to respect that,” DeRose said. “There is going to be an NCAA Tournament and we want to compete for championships.”
The Braves will face the University of Illinois-Springfield in a non-conference game on Feb. 8, their last games in the Slugger Dome before going to Springfield, Missouri on Feb. 14 to face Missouri State.
