DeKALB, Ill. - Bradley sophomore forward Christian Meza assisted both of Bradley's goals in the final 23 minutes, including Chris Cutshaw's game-winner in the 83rd minute, helping the Braves (1-0-0) rally for a 2-1 victory at Northern Illinois (0-1-0) in the season-opener for both teams Tuesday evening at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Stadium.

Bradley has won its season-opener in eight consecutive seasons and for the 13th time in Jim DeRose's 14 years as head coach.

Northern Illinois outshot Bradley, 22-10, and held a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal, but junior keeper Drew Van Kampen came through with nine saves, one shy of his career-best, to keep the Braves in the game.

The one shot that got past Van Kampen came off a restart in the 15th minute.  Started by a free kick from the right side of the attack, Josh Karsten poked home the season's first goal at 14:15.

The Huskies kept up the pressure and recorded eight of the game's next nine shots, but could not solve the Bradley defense again.  The Braves started to turn the momentum toward the end of the half with a trio of headers near the NIU goal in the final five minutes of the period.

Northern Illinois again enjoyed the majority of the play to start the second hald and nearly doubled its lead when Luis De La Cerda hit the post in the 67th minute

Bradley used only two reserves during the game, but one second-half substitution paid immediate dividends.  After getting a 10-minute breather, senior forward Justin Bigelow re-entered with 14:17 left in the game.  Just 19 seconds later, Bigelow was knocking home the tying goal to finish off a Bradley corner kick.

Bigelow's strike set the stage for Cutshaw, who ran down a Meza through ball on the left side and placed his game-winner inside the far post at 82:39.  Cutshaw, who entered the season as the Missouri Valley Conference active leader with 22 goals, came through with his seventh career game-winning goal to move into a tie for fifth on the school's all-time list of game-winners.  Cutshaw also moved into a tie atop The Valley's active scoring list with 53 career points.

The Braves will return to action this weekend by hosting Eastern Illinois, Memphis and Mercer in the Busey Bank Kickoff Festival.  The highlight of the tournament will be Bradley's 10 p.m. game Friday versus Memphis, which will be televised nationally on Fox Soccer Channel as the opening game of the 2009 NSCAA Game-of-the-Week package.  The tournament also will feature the return to Peoria of Bradley's former Associate Head Coach Brad Ruzzo, who is in his second season as the head coach at Mercer.

Coupons for free tickets to Friday night's action at the Busey Bank Kickoff Festival have been distributed to 19 businesses throughout the Peoria area, or is available on Bradley's official athletic department website by clicking the following link:  http://www.bradleybraves.com/fls/3400/splash_coupon.pdf?SPSID=25970&SPID=1513&DB_OEM_ID=3400&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=3400&DB_LANG=&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=