The Bradley soccer team used its spring game against the University of Nebraska-Omaha Saturday to try out different players in crucial roles.
The Braves were supposed to play Omaha and Southern Illinois Edwardsville in Evanston over the weekend, but the round robin was cancelled, and Omaha travelled to Peoria instead.
The first half of the match remained despite Bradley’s many scoring chances, which included five corner kicks. Early in the second half, the Mavericks poured it on by scoring three goals in under 10 minutes. Head Coach Jim DeRose said the team fell behind due to a few slip-ups.
“We made a mistake on the first goal and a couple different errors,” DeRose said. “It was a challenge for us against a really good team.”
The Braves got one goal back with eight minutes left from Gerit Wintermeyer, but it was too late, as the Mavericks won 3-1.
DeRose said the team is challenged by losing some of its top defenders.
“For us, we are kind of unique,” DeRose said. “We return a lot of our attacking players, but we lose our goalkeeper and three of our starting back four. The only returning player with experience is [senior] Alex Ciaramiataro.”
One of the biggest players lost for the Braves is defender Jacob Taylor and his long throw-in.
“It is a weapon. I can’t count how many goals we have scored off of it directly or indirectly,” DeRose said. “Being a defender is a lot about getting in critical individual defending moments maybe only three or four times a game, but if you don’t have a lot of experience, you have to learn that in game situations.”
DeRose said he utilized the scrimmage to give unexperienced players a chance to get quality minutes.
“[In] each of our games, we have had a different starting line-up,” DeRose said. “I always say your best recruiting class is the one you already had from the year before.”
As far as next year’s recruiting class goes, DeRose said they have not finalized their full group.
“We are still waiting on a couple of international players,” DeRose said. “We will hopefully have an announcement in the next couple weeks.”
The team continues their spring schedule Saturday with a 1 p.m. match at North Park and a 7:30 p.m. game at Aurora.
