Bradley soccer (1-1-0) opened up their season at home with a thrilling last-minute win on Thursday, Aug. 25 against Northern Kentucky (1-1-0) before falling to Missouri-Kansas City (1-1-0) on the road Sunday evening.
The match at Shea Stadium was a test drive for Northern Kentucky, as it was the first with new head coach Tom Poitras at the helm. The scene was more familiar for Bradley, who has a healthy amount of returning members from last season when they had one of the youngest squads in the NCAA.
Not much separated both teams at the half, as the Braves had few chances and the Norse had little creativity in the final third. Redshirt freshman Kaloyan Somov nearly gave the Braves the advantage in the first half, only to be brought back for an offside.
“Opening night is always really emotional for both teams; obviously they had the better of the ball,” head coach Jim DeRose said in an interview for the Bradley Soccer Twitter page after the win. “From start to finish, one thing we did was compete. It wasn’t always perfect, but we competed.”
However, after 65 minutes of action and a quick counter-attack, Somov took advantage of a shot from junior Eric Catus that rebounded out of the hands of Norse freshman goalkeeper Nic Lemen, putting it in the back of the net. The Braves would only be able to keep the advantage for 15 minutes, as a Norse goal came in to tie the match in similar fashion to Bradley’s goal.
With less than five minutes left, sophomore Francesco Pettinaroli would find Somov completely alone on the right flank, leaving him with only the goalkeeper to beat. After a quick side-step, Somov left Lemen committed to his right. Doing so exposed Lemen’s left side and allowed Somov to dribble past and score for the win.
“We had a really tough pre-season and we absolutely deserved that win,” Somov said on the Bradley Soccer Twitter page after the win. “I’m so happy for the team and for the two goals, of course.”
While Bradley’s game was based on a strong defense and quick forward runs, Northern Kentucky implemented a more physical approach that left them with six yellow cards.
In their second match of the season, Bradley fell 3-2 to Missouri-Kansas City on Sunday, Aug. 28 at Durwood Soccer Stadium in Missouri.
Kansas City dealt the first blow after a deflection in the middle of the field resulted in a quick counter-attack from graduate senior Philipp Basara in the 23rd minute. Bradley would be given an advantage as Kansas City’s sophomore Noah Gonsalves was shown red in the 32nd minute of the game. Shortly after, Bradley came close to tying the game, but the goal was called back for offsides.
After the start of the second half, the Roos doubled their advantage when a loose ball fell to the feet of sophomore Shfeo Lar in the Braves box where it was finished off. The Braves struck back in the 87th minute when senior Pepe Mellado crossed a ball into the final third and sophomore Patrick Fishburne effortlessly volleyed it over the keeper and into the back of the net.
However, a penalty awarded two minutes later further complicated things for the Braves, as the Roos capitalized to make it 3-1. Nevertheless, Bradley was not done on the offensive side, as Mellado got behind a pass from redshirt sophomore Alex Olsen to cut the two-goal deficit in half.
Unfortunately for the Braves, they were not able to find an equalizer, and the game ended with a Kansas City victory. The Roos were clinical in the match, as they took advantage of their opportunities with 50% of their shots on target. On the other hand, the Braves’ offense struggled to get shots on line with only 25% of their attempts having viable goal-scoring potential.
The Braves return to action on Sunday against Green Bay at Aldo Santaga Stadium in Wisconsin.
