EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Freshman Alex Welch's (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) first collegiate goal was not enough to overcome a two-goal first half deficit as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team fell to Bradley, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Evanville's ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic. 

"The big thing for us is that we got punished for our mistakes today," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We didn't have a very good first half and we gifted Bradley two good opportunities. The second half was good, I think we came out with a little more passion and fight, and that created some things for us. At the end of the day, Bradley executed their game plan better than we did over the course of 90 minutes and we have to live with the consequences of that."

NIU (1-1) forced a pair of saves from Bradley goalkeeper Brandon Barnes in the opening quarter-hour as sophomore Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Georg-Buechner Gym) and Welch each had opportunities that forced a save from the Braves goalkeeper. In the 16th minute, sophomore Christian Molina also had an effort stopped by Barnes as both teams created chances in the early going. 

Bradley (1-1) opened the scoring in the 22nd minute as Roman Schindler gave the Braves an early advantage. Richard Olson fed Schindler who was able to dribble around NIU senior goalkeeper Drew Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and give Bradley a 1-0 lead. 

The Braves doubled their advantage in the 32nd minute. Schindler turned provider for the second Bradley goal, assisting on Younes Dayekh's goal that gave Bradley a 2-0 lead. 

Two minutes after the Bradley's second goal, senior Luke Read (Ilford, England/Barking Abbey School) had a chance to halve the Bradley lead, but he put his header wide as the Braves took a 2-0 lead into halftime. 

Six minutes after the interval NIU cut the Bradley lead in half as Welch converted from the penalty spot. After being fouled in the box by a Bradley defender, Welch stepped up and buried the penalty to trim the Bradley lead to 2-1. 

Bradley continued to cling to their one-goal advantage late in the contest. Maertins had a chance saved by Barnes in the 75th minute and Molina was stopped by Barnes three minutes later. 

The Huskies pushed for an equalizer in the final minutes. Freshman Sheriden Smith (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) put a header wide in the 85th minute and sophomore Ethan Pitre (Minneapolis, Minn./Prairie Seeds Academy) fired a shot high in the 88th. NIU's final chance fell to the head of junior Noah Brodie (Scottsdale, Ariz./Carbondale Community) in the final minute, but Barnes made a save as the Braves held on for a 2-1 victory. 

Barnes made eight saves for Bradley; Donnally recorded six saves for the Huskies. 

NIU will return to action on Monday afternoon, Sept. 4, when the Huskies meet Evansville. Kickoff against the Purple Aces is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., and will be available on ESPN3.