PEORIA, Ill. -- After giving up a goal midway through the first half, Bradley (7-3-0) rallied behind a couple of headers to earn a 2-1 non-conference men's soccer victory versus Western Michigan (3-5-1) Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium.
Junior forward Zach Bell pulled the Braves even by scoring on a header at 29:17 and sophomore forward Nick Mentgen netted the winner 2-minutes, 34-seconds into overtime with a header of his own. Both goals were the fourth of the year for Bell and Mentgen.
Sunday's game featured two delays for lightning, the first a 30-minute stoppage early in the first half that knocked the scoreboards offline. After play resumed, Western Michigan struck first when Javier Arana crossed a ball from the right flank into the center of the penalty area, where Dustin Snyder collected the service with his back to the goal, turned and whipped a shot past Bradley keeper Chris Dunsheath for a 1-0 Bronco lead at 23:03.
After surrendering just the second goal in five home games, Bradley bounced right back and pulled even in the 30th minute. Senior midfielder Salim Bullen played an angled service from the left flank to the far post, where Teddy Anderson headed it back across the goal mouth. Bell made his run to the left post and headed home the equalizer at 29:17.
The start of the second half was delayed 10 minutes to allow another thunderstorm to clear the area. Once the second half began, Western Michigan very nearly regained the lead in quick fashion. at 48:10, Chad Schurr served a corner kick that Tom Oatley headed off the crossbar. The ball bounced down onto the goal line before the Braves cleared it away.
Both teams managed 10 second-half shots, but the two keepers combined for eight saves during the period to keep the slate clean. Bradley applied the pressure early in the overtime session and Western Michigan's inability to clear the ball proved costly.
Bullen fired a shot in the 92nd minute from the top left corner of the penalty area that deflected off a Bronco defender and created a corner kick for the Braves. Bullen served the corner to Adam Hage for a header that was deflected out by the Broncos for another corner. This time, Bullen sent a longer service beyond the far post to the right side of the box, where 6-foot-3 senior forward Kevin Erickson headed it back toward the goal. Positioned near the right post, Mentgen was able to flick the ball backward, past Bronco keeper Brent Miller for his second game-winning strike of the season.
By playing the full 92-minutes, 34-seconds Bradley senior goalkeeper Chris Dunsheath reached one milestone while extending an impressive streak. Dunsheath has now played 7091 minutes and 44 seconds between the pipes since the start of the 2002 season to become the third goalkeeper in Missouri Valley Conference history to play at least 7000 minutes. Dunsheath also ran his career overtime record to 5-0-11 as the Braves remained unbeaten (9-0-12) in their last 21 overtime games dating back to a four-overtime loss to Creighton in the 2000 MVC Tournament championship game.
