PEORIA, Ill. -- Freshman forward Paul Tracy (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley H.S.) scored his first career points by contributing the game-winning goal and adding an assist and Bradley (5-2-1) used a deep bench en route to a 3-0 victory versus IUPUI (2-6-1) in the second game of the Busey/Bradley Homecoming Classic Friday night at Shea Stadium.
In Friday's tournament opener, Bradley's Missouri Valley Conference rival Missouri State (3-5-1) used a pair of second half goals by forward Yanik Joseph to earn a 2-1, come-from-behind win against defending Horizon League champion UIC (3-2-2).
In its first game since last Saturday's 2-0 loss to #9 Saint Louis, Bradley turned in a strong bounce-back effort against IUPUI, delivering an impressive 40th birthday present to head coach Jim DeRose. The youngest coach in the country with at least 100 victories, DeRose ran his record to 132-80-22 in his 12th year with the Braves. Including the team's first in-game goalkeeper switch since the 2003 season, Bradley used 23 players Friday night.
Tracy's persistence paid off with his first career goal in the 29th minute. With a pair of IUPUI defenders trying to shield him from a ball rolling toward the Jaguars' penalty area, Tracy was able to fight through and poke the loose ball free. He then beat keeper Peter Brasovan to the ball in the middle of the penalty area and poked it inside the right post for a 1-0 Bradley lead at 28:30.
Brasovan turned away Tracy's attempt at a two-goal game in the 56th minute with a sliding deflection of the freshman's blast from the left side of the penalty area, but the loose ball fell right to sophomore Chris Cutshaw (Carmel, Ind./Carmel H.S.) in the middle of the park and he drilled the back of the night for a 2-0 Bradley lead at 55:53. Senior reserve forward Ken Hickman (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville H.S.) completed the scoring in the 80th minute when he beat Brasovan on a breakaway.
Bradley outshot IUPUI 24-14 Friday night and matched the Jaguars' total shot count with 14 shots on goal. Brasovan's 11 saves were the second-most ever by a keeper at Shea Stadium, trailing only the 14 saves by Creighton's Matt Allen Oct. 8, 2004. After a pair of team saves kept IUPUI off the board during an early scrum in front of the Bradley net, Braves keepers Mike Haynes (Dunlap, Ill./Dunlap H.S.) and Drew Van Kampen (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley H.S.) combined for four saves to post the shared shutout. Van Kampen entered after Hickman's goal and recorded his first career save in the 84th minute, helping the Braves turn in a clean sheet for the third time in four games.
In Friday's first game, UIC midfielder Cesar Zambrano converted a penalty kick 6.3 seconds before the end of the half to spot the Flames a 1-0 lead. Missouri State pulled even in the 72nd minute when Brian Collins sent a cross from the left flank to the right side of the UIC penalty area, where a diving Joseph headed home his first goal of the year. A defensive breakdown on a Missouri State goal kick led to the winner. After the goal kick was flicked backward, a UIC defender missed on a clearing header and Joseph raced in uncontested against Flames goalkeeper Jeff Engelbrecht.
The Busey/Bradley Homecoming Classic will continue Saturday when Missouri State faces IUPUI in the 5 p.m. opener and will conclude when Bradley hosts UIC in the finale at approximately 7:30. Single-game ticket prices for regular-season Bradley soccer games at Shea Stadium are $5 for adults, $2 for youth (K-12) and free for Bradley University students, faculty and staff, as well as active members of the military and their immediate families, all with valid identification.
