PEORIA, Ill. – Tournament host Bradley scored three second-half goals to rally past the Drake men's soccer team, 3-1, on Wednesday night in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
A pair of Drake (6-11-2) freshmen off the bench teamed up for the match's first goal in the 26
th minute (26:37). From the right side of the field,
Juan Louis (Minneapolis, Minn.) sent a long cross with his left foot to the box that
Stafford Dowling (Hamilton, New Zealand) poked past the Bradley (11-7-2) goalkeeper Brandon Barnes. It is the second career goal for the Kiwi, Dowling and the first career assist for Louis.
Out of halftime, Bradley quickly took a 2-1 lead with goals in the 47
th and 48
th minutes. Roman Schindler scored the first goal at 47:49 off a cross and Alex Ciaramitaro flicked in a header off a long throw in for the eventual game winner at 48:50.
Trailing 2-1, Drake put tremendous pressure on the Braves. The Bulldogs had several quality looks, but couldn't net the equalizer. Bradley's Gerit Wintermeyer added the insurance goal in the 74
th minute (74:08) after Drake's defense failed to clear the ball. Wintermeyer snagged the loose ball and fired a shot over goalkeeper
Caden McCullough's (Evansville, Ind.) to push the lead to 3-1.
Down 3-1, the Bulldogs continued to bring pressure firing six shots the rest of the match. Seniors
Paul Ciszewski (Germantown, Wis.),
Gabe Edel (Greenwood, Ind.),
Aleksi Tuominen (Helsinki, Finland) and redshirt sophomore
Alex Peterson (St. Cloud, Minn.) each had shot attempts either blocked or saved by Barnes. Edel had two shots while Ciszewski nearly snuck a ball past Barnes but he fell on top of it for the save and Tuominen drilled a long, heavy ball that was blocked by a Braves' defender's head. Graduate transfer
Jake Taylor (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) had the final attempt, a header, that went wide.
McCullough finished with five saves, including several key stops in the first half. Every Bulldog starter had at least one shot.
Bradley advances to Friday's semifinal to play No. 2 Central Arkansas at 6 p.m.
