Well, after my last post, the team had just come off a 4-1 win against SIU-Edwardsville. With the momentum from that game we headed south this past weekend to take-on perennial conference USA powers Memphis and UAB.
On Friday we played our season opener against the Memphis Tigers. Nerves were high and the team was anxious to kick off the 2008 season. Still, it didn’t take long for us to find our form. Within the first three minutes, freshman Christian Meza stripped a Memphis defender and tucked a shot far post for his first goal of the season. Later in the second half, another freshman, Brian Gaul, scored off a cross from Justin Bigelow to record his first goal of the year. Up 2-0 with plenty of time still left in the game, our team kept pushing and pressing the Memphis defenders. Chris Cutshaw was rewarded for his tireless pressure up top with two late goals that all but assured our team of victory. When all was said and done, we won the game decisively, notching four goals on the way to a 4-0 victory.
Sunday’s game against UAB was shaping up to be a much more challenging game. Both teams were coming into the game undefeated and we were looking to improve on our performances from Friday. Sunday’s game was played at 3:00 pm with a game time temperature of about 97 degrees. The heat was sweltering and players from both teams were having difficulties adjusting to the heat and humidity. Toward the end of the first half the UAB team seemed to slow down and we started to take control of the game. With about ten minutes left in the first half, Justin Bigelow scored his first goal of the season off a cross from Chris Cutshaw.
Later in the second half UAB scored the equalizer, pulling the game level 1-1. After UAB scored, our team picked up its play. After the goal, UAB seemed to slow down again and we decided to press as hard as possible for the last thirty minutes. At about the 67 minute mark, Chris Cutshaw controlled a through ball from Travis English, flicking it over a defender and bending his shot far post just past the reach of UAB’s goalkeeper. After Chris’ goal, the defense really stepped up and completely shut down UAB’s attack, ending the game in Bradley’s favor, 2-1.
All in all it was a great weekend for the Braves. We not only defended our #21 national ranking, but defeated two solid conference USA teams and hopefully laid the groundwork for another remarkable season.
Graham Stockdale
Sept. 2, 2008
