HANOVER, N.H. –  Bradley junior forward Jochen Graf (Double Oak, Texas/Faustina Academy) scored the “Golden Goal” just 35 seconds into overtime, leading #23 Bradley (4-0-1) to a 2-1, come-from-behind win against #8 South Florida (3-1-0) in the opening game of the Dartmouth Classic Friday afternoon at Burnham Field.

The Braves overcame an early goal on a USF corner kick to knock off its highest-ranked opponent since knocking off #7 Creighton, 1-0, in the championship game of the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.  Senior forward Bryan Gaul (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley H.S.) ran his point-scoring streak to five games by converting a penalty kick in the 83rd minute for the tying goal.

Playing its third consecutive overtime game, Bradley improved to 2-0-1 in extra time this year when Bulls goalkeeper Chris Blais could not control a Christian Meza blast and Graf poked home the loose ball for his first career game-winner at 90:35.  Gaul’s penalty kick at 82:37 was the result of a USF handball in the penalty area.

Bradley held the advantage in the majority of the statistics, including a 13-8 edge in shots and a 6-3 margin in corner kicks.  The first two USF corner kicks came in succession in the 17th minute, however, and the Bulls turned the second attempt into the game’s first goal when Ashani Fairclough knocked home the service from Ben Sweat for a 1-0 lead at 16:57.

Bradley will try to continue its undefeated start to the season at 11 a.m. Sunday when the Braves face South Carolina in the second round of the Dartmouth Classic.  The Gamecocks held a 1-2-0 record heading into Friday night’s game at Dartmouth, but were coming off a midweek win against #21 Charlotte.

The Braves will return home to host Memphis, Loyola-Chicago and Evansville in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic Sept. 16-18 at Shea Stadium.  Bradley will face Memphis Friday at 7 p.m. and Loyola-Chicago at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

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