The Bradley soccer team netted two goals in the final seven minutes of regulation to earn a 2-0 win over visiting Western Illinois on Tuesday night. With the win, the Braves improve to 2-5-1 on the season, while the Fighting Leathernecks drop to 3-4-1.
 
The schools played to scoreless draw in the first 83 minutes of the game before the Braves secured the victory with two goals just 2:47 apart. Junior Clark Emerson opened the scoring with his first tally of the season with just 6:50 remaining, heading in a long throw-in from redshirt freshman Noah Lasutschinkow for the 1-0 advantage.
 
Just 167 seconds later, freshman Suad Suljic tallied his first career goal to seal the Braves victory over their nearby rival. Junior Richard Olson gained possession of the ball on the sideline, dribbled past a couple of defenders along the baseline and then found Suljic open in the box. The rookie buried his chance from five yards out for the Braves insurance goal and the 2-0 winning margin.
 
Senior Logan Ketterer anchored the Bradley defense to its second clean sheet of the season, stopping four Leathernecks shots to earn the victory between the posts.
 
Overall, both schools attempted 12 shots on the night with the Braves owning a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
 
The two-goal victory is the first for the Braves over Western Illinois since 2007 and just the second in the last 20 meetings between the two Illinois schools.
 
Bradley returns to Missouri Valley Conference action this weekend and looks to continue its winning ways with a road contest at Missouri State. The schools are set to meet on Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff with the game being shown live on ESPN3.