Six goals.
It’s the most that Bradley soccer (3-9-3) has given up in a game since 1996, and it happened in the span of less than 30 minutes in their Sunday afternoon loss to Illinois-Chicago (4-7-2).
In front of a crowd of over 500 at Shea Stadium for the annual Danny Dahlquist Memorial Game, the Braves lost 6-2 to the Flames, with all six goals coming during the second half. In the 60th minute, a shot by UIC’s Christian Crespo hit off the left goalpost and ricocheted into the lap of Josh Torres, who set up right in front of the net for the easy goal. In the 70th minute, Andres Moreno tied things up by heading one in off a corner kick from Pau Mateo.
Stuck in a 2-2 standstill in the 77th minute, Paul Brauckmann gave the Flames the lead and induced the landslide thanks to his header, this time off a cross from Moreno that he got back after another corner kick. UIC had 19 corner kicks in the match, tied for the most ever by a Bradley opponent.
In the 85th minute, a Bradley misplay gave open space to Torres, who beat a defender and fired one into the net for his second goal of the game and seventh of the year, good for second in the MVC. Forty-nine seconds later, UIC extended the lead even more, and a final goal in the 87th minute was the nail in the coffin for the Braves.
Bradley was unable to get much going on the offensive end, getting outshot 16-4 in the first half and 24-0 in the second. The 40 UIC shots are tied for the third-most by a Braves opponent in program history.
Despite the disparity, things looked good for Bradley in the first half. In the 19th minute, sophomore Anthony Calleri crossed the ball into the box for fellow sophomore Jackson Fyda, who punched it home for his first goal of the season. In the 32nd minute, the right foot of junior Rasmus Smidtslund put Bradley up 2-0 after another cross from Calleri and a header from sophomore Francesco Pettinaroli set Smidtslund up for his first of the year.
The Flames had a chance to get one back in the 44th minute, as an errant slide tackle from junior Erik Catus gave UIC a penalty kick. However, the shot clanged off the crossbar and the Braves kept the 2-0 lead going into the half.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, junior goalkeeper Nick Burke went down with an injury, causing redshirt freshman Will Nicholson to occupy the net for the rest of the game. He was in goal for all six of UIC’s conversions.
These two teams previously faced off on Sept. 24, with UIC also winning that contest 3-0. This time around, the Braves got on the scoreboard, but UIC’s firepower proved to be too much to handle.
The team will try to end their three-game losing skid on Saturday against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
