Peoria, Ill. – Bradley University's men's soccer team demonstrated resilience by battling to a 1-1 draw against Mercer during the 14th Danny Dahlquist Memorial Game. The Braves are still one of three unbeaten teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, with an impressive record of 4-0-2 during the 2023 season.
Mercer started off the game off hot with an early goal in the first seconds of play, but the assistant referee invalidated the score after an offside call. Later in the 37th minute, Omar Hernandez gave the visitors the lead, which they would take into the dressing room at halftime. During the second half, the Braves created many chances to avoid their first loss of the season when all of a sudden
Jared Sinnaeve would find the equalizer in the 57th minute, following a powerful strike from outside the box to make it 1-1. With that goal,
Jared Sinnaeve has scored two goals in his last two games.
Both teams tried to find the winning goal during the last 20 minutes of play, but the match ended with a 1-1 draw thanks to crucial saves by
Alex Grow and Trevor McMullen on both sides of the field.
Jim DeRose shared his post game thoughts following the home result.
This game carried more than just a final score for both teams as it was the 14th edition of the Danny Dahlquist Memorial game. Bradley honored players from each program (Danny Dahquist of Bradley and Baba Agbaje of Mercer) during the broadcast and on its athletics website leading up to the match, those interested in helping or donating may still donate here to Baba Agbaje Bread for Haiti Legacy fund via "GoFundMe."
Donate here
Coming Up
The Braves will be back in action next Saturday Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. as they host the nationally ranked #18 SIUE Cougars. The Braves trail the all-time series with the Cougars at 9-11-2, however the Braves have won three of the last four meetings outright with a 4-5-2 mark at Shea Stadium. Should the Braves win or draw against the Cougars it would tie the third best start to a season in Bradley men's soccer history.
