CHICAGO - Alex Ciaramitaro scored his first career points on a 36th minute goal and keeper Brandon Barnes made a career-best 11 saves, leading Bradley (6-3-0) to a 1-0 victory at DePaul (3-4-1) Wednesday afternoon at Wish Field at Cacciatore Stadium.

 

Bradley improved to 7-1-2 all-time against DePaul and the road win against the in-state rivals came in Bradley head coach Jim DeRose's 100th career game against opponents from the Land of Lincoln.  Including a 4-0-0 record this season, DeRose's Braves are 65-28-7 (.685) against other teams from the state of Illinois since he took over the program in 1996, including a 20-4-0 (.833) mark against the state's other NCAA Division I private institutions: DePaul (4-0-0), Loyola Chicago (10-3-0) and Northwestern (6-1-0).

 

The reigning Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week, Barnes recorded his third consecutive shutout and his fifth clean sheat of the season.  A graduate transfer from Seton Hall, Barnes' previous career-best saves total was eight Sept. 2 in a 2-1 win against Northern Illinois and his seven second-half stops Wednesday matched his game total in Saturday's 3-0 win against Fort Wayne.  With five shutouts in Bradley's last six games, Barnes has already cracked Bradley's single-season top list and is now part of a five-way tie for ninth with his 5.0 shutouts on the season.

 

Playing in his 36th career game and 28th as a starter, primarily as a central defender, Ciaramitaro proved to be the offensive hero Wednesday.  Fellow defender Jacob Taylor started the scoring play with a throw from near Bradley's bench.  The ball bounced through the box and found Ciaramitaro at the far post, where he poked the loose ball home for his first career points.

 

Although DePaul finished the game with a 19-9 advantage in shots, the Braves very nearly pushed their advantage to 2-0 in the closing seconds on consecutive shots by Gerit Wintermeyer in the 88th minute.  Wintermeyer tried to catch DePaul keeper Quentin Low out of position with a wicked strike from near midfield, but the Low got just enough of the curling shot to push it over the bar at the top left corner.  Wintermeyer followed with a breakaway opportunity moments later, but Low was up to the challenge to keep the Blue Demons alive.

 

After playing eight games in the last 19 days, Bradley will have rare weekend off before returning to action next Wednesday with a 7 p.m. Missouri Valley Conference game at Evansville.  The Braves then will return home for three straight games, beginning Sept. 30 versus Drake on Soccer Alumni Day as the program celebrates its 30th anniversary season.