As the calendar turns to April, the Bradley soccer team marches on through it’s offseason.
While the Braves exhibition match against Kentucky last weekend was cancelled due to bad weather, the team is still preparing during the spring. Head coach Jim DeRose outlined his team’s plan for their exhibition season.
“That’s been a particular focus on the early spring to get some of those guys [playing time] that have been in the program and have waited patiently for their opportunities,” DeRose said.
Earlier this month, the Braves hired Ryan Smith to be the team’s new assistant coach. Smith starred as a defender on Louisville’s Elite Eight teams from 2010-2012. Before the hire, Smith spent his last three years as an assistant coach at Division-II Bellarmine University in Kentucky.
DeRose said he believes the Smith hire will make a positive impact on his team moving forward.
“He played in a national championship game [and] a couple final eights at Louisville, so he’s been on the big stage,” DeRose said, “I think as a player, that really helps a lot of the guys because he’s been there. He can relate to it.”
The Braves come off a successful season last year going 11-7-3 and advancing to the semifinal match against Central Arkansas in the MVC tournament. Unfortunately, the Braves fell to Central Arkansas in penalty kicks.
Heading into the fall, the Braves will lose two key defenders in Jake Taylor and Clark Emerson along with standout goalkeeper Brandon Barnes.
DeRose said it will be important to find his next core group of defenders.
“The biggest challenge if we’re going to have a good year is building from the back . . . Right now, we only return one player in Alex [Ciaramitaro],” DeRose said. “Everyone’s always talking about recruiting. But I think the best recruiting is what you have in the program already.”
Fortunately for the Braves, the team returns all their top scorers. Last season, Bradley’s core of sophomore Younes Dayekh, sophomore Gerit Wintermeyer and junior Roman Schindler combined to score 18 goals for the Braves.
DeRose touched on the importance of building on last year’s offensive output.
“First with a kid like [Dayek],” DeRose said. “It’s just the challenge of no sophomore slump. . .With [Schindler] and [Wintermeyer] being very known scoring commodities, how do you react to teams circling your name on the pre-scout board?”
The team will continue their spring season on April 14th against Omaha and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
