The Bradley University women’s golf team started off their season on September 4th and 5th in Normal, Illinois at the redbird invitational. The lady braves finished the invitational in 6th place out of 14 teams. Bradley’s three round tournament score was at 913 with the winner, Boston College scoring 890. Bradley topped two Missouri valley conference rivals drake and Loyola by 27 and 32 shots respectively. Sophomore Chloe Horton who finished with a three round total of 225 led the team. Horton also had the lowest round score for the braves on the weekend with an even par 72. The braves return to the course Saturday, September 17 at the UIC fall invite in Chicago, Illinois. The team looks to build off of this strong start and continue their success throughout the season.
The Bradley braves cross country team sent a small contingent to the Hawkeye early bird invitational last weekend. Junior Haran Dunderdale led the men’s squad to a ninth place title in the invitational as many of the heavy hitters for the men’s side did not attend. Dunderdale posted a seventeenth best time in the 6-k course as he finished with a time of 18 minutes and 41 seconds. Senior Steffen Uhrich would follow 10 seconds behind and take the thirty-first.
The women’s team took eighth in the invitational as they too were without their top performers. Sophomore Sara Piller led the charge with eleven other lady braves in the 3k race. Piller snagged twenty-sixth place, just mere seconds ahead of freshmen, Rachel Iacofano.
The men’s and women’s cross country team will have a weekend off before hosting the Bradley intercollegiate during homecoming weekend.
The Bradley soccer team played in the hotels at Grand Prairie classic last weekend and faced Fairleigh Dickinson and sixteenth ranked Utah valley. The braves kicked started the tournament with a stunning victory 1-0 against Fairleigh Dickinson.
The game remained scoreless until the 88th minute when Jason Lesch sent a pass ahead for Richard Olson who blasted a shot low past the Fairleigh Dickinson into the left corner of the net. Braves goaltender, Logan Ketterer earned the shutout as he only faced one shot in the second half to propel the braves to their first win.
The braves weren’t so lucky on Sunday as they faced the sixteenth ranked Utah valley wolverines. The braves were handed a 1-0 loss with the game’s lone goal coming in the twenty-sixth minute. The goal scorer senior Skylar Milne would receive the tournament MVP award as he tallied three goals and one assist during the tournament.
Logan Ketterer would hold join him on the all-tournament team along with teammates Richard Olson and Jacob Taylor. Ketterer would face 13 shots during the entire tournament and only allow one goal. The braves will suit up this weekend against Fort Wayne and Portland for neutral site matches at Mccutchan stadium in Indiana.
Women’s volleyball had a rough weekend at the North Dakota State classic as they went 1-3 over the course of the tournament while facing northern Illinois university, university of Texas at el Paso, North Dakota State university, and South Dakota State. Swept during the first game last Friday against the NIU huskies, the lady braves made it interesting facing off the UTEP miners. The Braves won the first set but lost the subsequent three. The turning point for the miners came in the third set as they edged out a 28-26 victory in the hard fought game.
The tough loss translated into their game with North Dakota State as they were swept again in three sets. The lady braves were able to end the tournament on a positive note however as they beat the South Dakota state jackrabbits in three sets.
Erica Haslag and Taylor Thiele would combine for 29 kills in the game while being assisted by setters Erin Olson and Afton Sobasky who notched 40 helpers. Haslag’s 18-kill performance is a season best as she helped the braves plow to their third victory on the season. The lady braves look to bounce back from the weekend in Kansas City, Missouri for the kangaroo “klassic” next weekend. And that is “klassic” with a “K” by the way!