PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley refused to let its record crowd go home disappointed, rallying for a 2-2 draw against the defending national champion and preseason No. 1 team, Notre Dame, in front of 3,099 fans Tuesday night at Shea Stadium.
Just when it seemed the visiting Irish took the life out of the crowd with a go-ahead goal in the 79th minute, Bradley netted its second equalizer of the night on Christian Okeke's toe poke inside the right post at 84:09.
The fifth annual Danny Dahlquist Memorial Game was billed as the "Battle of Champions" and the exhibition lived up to the hype, despite its exhibition status. While Notre Dame is the defending national champion, Bradley is the defending Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champion.
As a preseason exhibition, and after the two teams also played a reserve game earlier in the evening, no overtime was played Tuesday. Notre Dame earned a 1-0 victory in the 60-minute reserve game on the strength of Jon Gallagher's 52nd-minute goal.
The Fighting Irish took an early lead in the feature game after being granted a penalty kick for a soft foul at the very top of the 18-yard box. Patrick Hodan converted for the 1-0 advantage at 13:50.
Notre Dame, which outshot Bradley 10-7 in the first half, held the lead until the 78th minute, when Braves senior forward Cody Lofgren reversed a counter possession to spring junior defender Grant Bell down the right flank. Bell dribbled into the penalty area and beat Irish backup keeper Brian Talcott with a blast from 15 yards out to knot the score, 1-1, at 77:32.
While the largest home crowd in Bradley Soccer history erupted, the celebration was short-lived as the Irish immediately regained the lead on its next possession. Leon Brown's cross from the right flank found Connor Klekota just inside the "D" and the second-half sub buried a one-time shot for a 2-1 advantage at 78:02.
Bradley refused to surrender to the defending national champions, however, and Lofgren again set up the tying goal in the 85th minute, this time springing Christian Okeke down the left flank. Okeke dribbled into the penalty area and beat a charging Talcott with a right-footed toe poke that rolled inside the right post at 84:09.
Notre Dame ended the night with a 17-14 advantage in shots, though Bradley put six of its attempts on target, compared to just four shots on goal by the visitors. The Braves also finished with a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Bradley will play a second exhibition game Sunday (3:30 p.m.) at Illinois-Chicago, before officially opening the 2014 season by hosting San Jose State, UNLV and Western Illinois in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic. The Braves will take on San Jose State in the 7 p.m. game Aug. 29 and UNLV in the 2:30 p.m. contest Aug. 31. Western Illinois will play in the preceding game both days of the tournament.
