NIU men’s soccer (3-12-1, 1-6-1 MVC) earned its first draw of the season in the closer against the Bradley University Braves (4-8-4, 1-5-2 MVC). The Huskies came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie up the match in the final minutes.
“The game probably sums up why ourselves and Bradley are where we’re at (the bottom two teams in the MVC),” said NIU men’s soccer head coach Ryan Swan. “There was some pretty nice stuff played tonight and a lot of nice goals, but to give up the goals that we’ve given up is really disappointing from a defensive perspective. At the end of the day, I was proud of the way the guys responded. I don’t think we played great in the first half, but we kept the mentality really positive.”
The Braves struck first in the 5th minute, when sophomore forward DJ Koulai found the lower left of the goal to put Bradley up.
In the 35th minute, Koulai found the back of the net again, sending the ball up the middle of the goal past NIU sophomore goalkeeper Atahan Arslan.
The Huskies cut the lead for the Braves in the 41st minute, when redshirt freshman midfielder Jose Hernandez scored on a low center goal.
The Braves went up 3-1 early in the first half, when sophomore forward Mitch Coughlon returned Bradley’s lead to two.
NIU senior forward Zachariah Thomas sent the ball into the lower right corner of the goal in the 63rd minute to put the Huskies within one.
With five minutes left in the match, sophomore forward Sam Divis headed the ball past the second Bradley goalkeeper of the match, senior Alex Grow, to level the score.
“Sam (Divis) has been really good for us, especially in the second half of the season. I think he’s stepped into a leadership role, so he’s done a lot of really positive things. I know he was getting frustrated that he hadn’t scored more goals, so when he scored his first a couple weeks ago we figured it would open things up. He’s getting into dangerous positions and creating chances. He’s been fantastic and I think there’s a lot of goals in Sam over his last couple of years hopefully.”
NIU created 21 shots during the match, 11 of which were on goal. Divis created five opportunities and scored on one of them, while senior forward Kevin Kelly and freshman midfielder Grant Paskus each took 4 shots.
Arslan recorded 3 saves for the Huskies, while Bradley goalkeepers Grow and junior goalkeeper Drew Berry combined for 7 saves.
The Huskies ended their season in last place of the Missouri Valley Conference, holding a .219 winning percentage.
