DeKALB – The NIU men’s soccer team inched to within three points of competing in the MVC championship after it defeated the Bradley University Braves by a score of 1-0 Saturday. 

The Huskies currently have a 1-2-1 conference record. The Braves have a conference record of 0-4. 

“I think it (the win) puts us in a good spot,” said men’s soccer head coach Ryan Swan. “I think a loss tonight would have been tough. But, getting the win puts us in a good position and challenging for conference tournament and obviously playing a team that’s top of the conference next week with a chance to close that gap … so it (the win) was massive to get the results.”

Sophomore forward Taylor Davis had the lone goal in the 45th minute that brought the Huskies to victory. 

“It feels pretty nice,” Davis said. “I didn’t play the last two games due to injury, but being back on the scoresheet for NIU and for this being the first MVC win, it feels amazing. Since I started off on the bench, I felt – if I get the chance, I need to take it and take advantage of what I can then just keep going forward.”

The Huskies outshot the Braves 18-15. NIU had a total of 10 shots during the first half, five of which were on goal. In the second half, NIU had a total of eight shots with four on goal.  

Fifth year midfielder Luis Hernandez led the team in shots with four shots total, one of which was on goal. Sophomore midfielder Jakub Drazek had the second most amount of shots with two shots on goal. Senior goalkeeper Jakub Rojek only had to save three shots from the Braves.

The Huskies were given a total of three yellow cards – two during the second half. Freshman defender Luka Vasic received a yellow card in the 18th minute. Hernandez received a yellow card in the 58th minute and junior forward Zachariah Thomas received a yellow card in the 84th minute.

Swan thought the team matched the physicality in the second half but handled Bradley’s physicality poorly.  

“This’ll happen in conference games,” Swan said. “Obviously with Bradley being somewhat of a rival from here in Illinois. Games will get chippy at times, and I didn’t think we handled that as well. I thought we showed a little bit of immaturity getting caught up in some things that I thought we could have handled it. From a physical perspective, I thought we did fine, I thought we matched up to it.”

The NIU men’s soccer team will play Western Michigan University at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the WMU Soccer Complex. The game will be available to watch on Bronco All-Access, and live stats will be available on StatBroadcast. 

“I think because we won, it’s put us in hopefully a good spot where we can now be working forward,” Swan said. “We know that we’re probably just three or four points away from securing a conference postseason spot, and a positive result on Wednesday puts us right back in the mix for the conference championship. So, I think the mentality is good.”