PEORIA, Ill. –  Forced to wait through a near hour-and-a-half lightning delay before the game and playing a substantial portion of 110 minutes in a torrential downpour deserves better than a draw, but that was the result between Bradley (3-0-1) and Green Bay (1-0-1) Saturday night at Shea Stadium as 361 soggy fans saw the teams battle to a 1-1 draw.

Bradley dominated the stat sheet Saturday night, but the Braves gave away the tying goal with 34 seconds left before halftime and could not recover, despite steady pressure against the Green Bay defense all night.  The Braves ended the game with a 24-9 advantage in shots, an 11-4 margin in shots on goal and a 10-0 edge in corner kicks.

Faced with a slick field and a soggy ball, both keepers made some impressive stops between the pipes.  Green Bay’s Ryan Wehking made nine saves and got help from a teammate, who knocked a laser off the line midway through the first half.  Bradley keeper Brian Billings made three saves, including one on a point blank shot at the left post early in the first half.

Although Hermann Trophy candidate Bryan Gaul saw his streak of game-winning goals end at three consecutive matches, he did record a point for the fourth straight game by assisting the game’s first tally in the 29th minute.  The 6-foot-5 forward set up Bradley’s lone goal with a flicked head ball off a long service.  Christian Meza played the ball into the box, where speedster Cecil Jeffrey won the race with Wehking and poked the ball through the Phoenix keeper for his first career Bradley goal at 28:59.

It appeared the Braves would take the 1-0 lead into halftime until Tony Walls started a late Green Bay run from midfield down the left flank.  Walls played ahead to Luke Goodnetter, who dribbled in toward the top left area of the box, then unleashed a hard liner that glanced off the left post and into the back of the net at 44:26.

Bradley will try to continue its undefeated start to the season against a pair of nationally-ranked opponents next weekend when it faces South Florida Friday and South Carolina Sept. 11 in the Dartmouth Classic.  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.

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