BU Soccer- BU vs. Eastern Illinois- tonight, Thurs. 9/1, 7pm

[Da Coach]

BU soccer home opener tonight- Let's go Braves!
We'll try to post updates as the game proceeds.

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=205255502

2011 Bradley Soccer Game Notes
Games 3 & 4 - Sept. 1 vs. Eastern Illinois and Sept. 3 vs. Green Bay

GAME 3 - EASTERN ILLINOIS (1-0-0) AT BRADLEY (2-0-0)
DATE: Thursday, Sept. 1
TIME: 7 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Shea Stadium (Peoria, Ill.)
TICKETS: $6 adults, $3 youth (K-12)
THE GAME
Bradley will host its 25th home-opener Thursday night when former Missouri Valley Conference rival Eastern Illinois visits Shea Stadium ... Coming off a pair of wins in the state of Indiana last weekend, the Braves will be shooting for their first 3-0 start to a season since the 2000 NCAA Tournament squad opened with a 5-0-0 record ... Bradley is 13-8-3 (.604) all-time in home openers, including 5-2-1 (.68 at Shea Stadium, but the Braves are winless (0-2-1) in their last three home openers.
THE SERIES
Thursday's game will be the 23rd all-time meeting between in-state rivals Bradley and Eastern Illinois ... The Braves own a 12-8-2 lead in the all-time series, including an 8-2-0 home record against the Panthers ... The teams were Missouri Valley Conference rivals from 1996-2010 and the Braves dominated the series during that time with a 12-4-2 margin ... Despite the advantage, the series has been marked by close games: 12 of the last 15 regular-season meetings have been decided by one goal.
THE COACHES
BRADLEY: Jim DeRose (Johnson State '89) has begun his 16th year as a collegiate head coach, all at Bradley, and begins the week with a 168-117-31 (.581) career record. DeRose's 168 victories represent 76.7 percent of the total Bradley victories (219) in program history. DeRose is 12-4-2 all-time against Eastern Illinois.
EASTERN ILLINOIS: Adam Howarth (Eastern Illinois '93) is beginning his 12th year at the helm of the Eastern Illinois program and enters Thursday's game with an 80-104-20 (.441) career record ... Howarth is 2-10-2 all-time against Bradley.

[Da Coach]

2 early corner kicks in the 2nd minute lead to 2 great scoring chances For BU but it is 0-0.


There are a couple students with vuvuzelas. I hope it doesn't continue long.

[Da Coach]

EIU players appear smaller than BU at all 10 field positions and Bradley players are faster.
15 minutes on and all the action so far has been toward the EIU goal but still 0-0.
Gaul being marked constantly by a couple EIU defenders.

[Da Coach]

A bad defensive breakdown in the 28th minute lead to an EIU goal.
1-0 EIU.

[Da Coach]

Bryan Gaul missed wide on a breakaway in the 31 st minute.

[Da Coach]

Bradley scores in the 32nd minute on a nice unassisted goal by Christian Meza.
Tied 1-1.

[Da Coach]

Halftime score 1-1.
Bradley with 8 shots and 3 corners.
EIU with 5 shots and 3 corners.
The only 2 saves were by the Eiu GK.

[tornado]

I am at the game -- the EIU goal was a defensive breakdown - gambling for a steal in the penalty area and our defense got beat kinda badly..

but we came right back and scored off a nice feed from the left side...
Bradley is controlling possession the majority of the time and has had several far better opportunities...
GO BU!

[Da Coach]

A lot of action in the second half but no scoring.
1-1 at the end of regulation.

[Da Coach]

Bryan Gaul puts in the winner 5 minutes into overtime.
Bradley wins 2-1.

[Braves4Life]

Great win!!! What the heck was Gaul doing after he scored? Taunting the downed EIU player? I sure hope not.

[Da Coach]

I didn't see that, but the EIU defenders that were assigned to stick to him the entire game started to get to him in the second half. Gaul did a fair share of pushing them when the referee wasn't looking. He needs to get used to that kind of clutch and grab defense, and not lose his cool. I have a feeling he will see a lot more of it.

My impression seeing the team for the first time- They mostly dominated the play, but missed out on many scoring opportunities due to poor communication, and a lot of missed connections on passes in the forward zone. EIU played good defense, but was not a good team on offense.
I hope Bradley's passing improves as the season progresses, and I think it will. The midfielders and defense was great except for the one breakdown when the EIU forward was able to split 2 defenders and get a point blank shot. The BU GK had no chance on that one.
This can be a very good team. 3-0......let's keep it undefeated Saturday against Green Bay.


BTW- Jim Mattson should have some good video on the WEEK/WHOI sports tonight. And Dave Snell will have a video up probably tomorrow.

Here are the final stats-

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/782442.pdf?ATCLID=205265249&SPSID=19485&SPID=1513&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=3400

Attendance was 765.

[Bobby Parker]

Here's the game recap: http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArt...CLID=205265249

[Da Coach]

Great win!!! What the heck was Gaul doing after he scored? Taunting the downed EIU player? I sure hope not.

After watching highlights of the end of the game, it appears that is what Gaul was doing. Not a real classy way to celebrate a great win. I can understand his frustration after being mauled for 95 minutes, but he needs to keep his composure.

Here is a video of the highlights from WEEK/WHOI-

http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/sports/Bradley-rallies-to-win-soccer-home-opener-128968143.html

[tornado]

I hope we learn from this and don't do it since that is the only thing that gets on the highlights...
but there was a whole lot of trash talking going on and I think this celebration was just the final part of it...
The video doesn't show some of the taunting actions of the defenders...