Bob Hunt Photographer

Sophomore midfielder Keegan Balle cleaned up a loose ball in the box, netting the game-winner in the 86th minute, lifting #22 Bradley (15-5-2) to a 2-1 win against Loyola-Chicago (7-12-2) in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship. The Braves advance to a second-round match against 2010 national runner-up Louisville.  The 12th-seeded Cardinals (12-6-2) will host the second-round match Sunday at 6 p.m. (CT) at Cardinal Park.  Playing in its sixth NCAA Tournament, Bradley earned its first postseason win since 2007 and improved to 3-5-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. After the first half ended with six shots for each team, Bradley turned up the pressure in the second half, outshooting the Ramblers 14-5 in the half to finish with a 20-11 advantage.

-Bob

Bradley University put its Missouri Valley Conference record 16-game streak of games decided by no more than one goal to rest Monday night by powering past visiting Oral Roberts for a 5-2 victory on Senior Night at Shea Stadium. After the Braves honored its nine seniors in a pregame ceremony, the underclassmen took over once the game started by combining for three goals and four assists on the night.  Sophomore midfielder Keegan Balle led the charge by scoring his first goal of the season and adding a pair of assists for a career-best four points.  The five-goal outburst was Bradley’s largest since a 7-1 win against Alabama A&M Sept. 12, 2010 at Evansville’s tournament and the best offensive output at home a 7-0 win against Drury Sept. 12, 2003 at Shea Stadium. Bradley broke the game open with a flurry of goals to end the half. Balle finished off a Bryan Gaul cross at the right post for the go-ahead goal at 31:52.  After hitting the cross bar on a empty-net, point blank shot moments earlier, junior defender Matt Kuehl pounced on a Wojciech Wojcik service that caromed off the left post and poked home what proved to be the game-winner at 39:26.

-Bob

Creighton’s Andrew Ribeiro took advantage of miscommunication in Bradley’s defense and ripped a laser from 20 yards out in the 35th minute for the game’s only goal, lifting the #4 Bluejays to a 1-0 Missouri Valley Conference victory versus the #23 Braves on a wet and blustery night at Shea Stadium. Creighton (12-2-0, 1-1-0 MVC) earned its first Valley points of the season and moved into a tie with Bradley (9-4-2, 1-2-0 MVC) in the middle of the league standings.  In a matchup of the two teams that have combined for 10 of the last 12 MVC regular-season and postseason tournament championships, Bluejays keeper Brian Holt needed just two saves to earn the shutout and prevent Bradley from earning its third consecutive win against Creighton for the first time in the history of the rivalry.

-Bob

Sophomore forward Wojciech Wojcik headed home a Marcus Schademann service in the 83rd minute, lifting #21 Bradley (6-1-2) to a 1-0 victory against in-state rival Western Illinois (3-4-1) Friday afternoon at John Mackenzie Alumni Field. Sophomore keeper Brian Billings came through with five saves to earn his second shutout of the season.  He got some help from sweeper Tapiwa Machingauta who had a team save in the first half and deflected the home team’s last chance wide as the game clock expired. The Braves scored the game-winning goal after Christian Meza gained possession on the left flank and fed the overlapping Schademann into the corner.  Schademann made a couple of moves to free himself for the left-footed service, finding the 6-foot-3 Wojcik all alone in the center of the goal for the easy finish at 82:28 for his first goal of the season and second career game-winner.

-Bob

In a game matching a pair of unbeaten programs, #18 Bradley and Memphis combined for just one shot on goal in the second half, but it proved to be the game-winning strike as the visiting Tigers (5-0-1) handed Bradley (4-1-2) its first loss of the season Friday night with a 1-0 decision in the second game of the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic at Shea Stadium. Bradley controlled the possession for big chunks of the second half, outshooting the Tigers 7-2 after the break, but Memphis forward Mark Sherrod broke loose on a quick counter to score the game-winner at 80:14.  Running onto a long ball from Wil Linder, Sherrod lost his left shoe near midfield, but kept up his sprint into the left flank and hit a left-footed shot from the top of the 18 inside the right post for his fifth goal of the year and fourth game-winner.

-Bob