PEORIA, Ill. – Sam Divis (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) scored twice in the final 30 minutes and Joe Herandez (Bensenville, Ill./York Community) scored in the first half as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team played to a 3-3 draw against Bradley on Wednesday night (Nov. 6) at Shea Stadium in the season finale for both teams. 

"The game sums up why ourselves and Bradley are where we are at," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "There was some pretty nice stuff played tonight, and a lot of nice goals, but to give up the goals we have given up is really disappointing from a defensive perspective. 

"But I was proud of the way the guys responded. I didn't think we played great in the first half, but we kept the mentality positive and even after giving up the third goal, found a way to get something out of the game and maybe should have found a winner late on."

Bradley opened the scoring in the fifth minute through DJ Koulai. Jared Sinnaeve found himself alone in the box, but NIU goalkeeper Atahan Arslan (Ismir, Turkiye) came up with an excellent save. The rebound fell to Amari Fowlkes however who played it across the box to Koulai who fired into the back of the net to give the home side the early lead. 

Just after the quarter-hour mark, NIU had an excellent opportunity to equalize from a corner. Tom Dahlin's (Stockholm, Sweden/Danderyds Gymnasium) corner found Luka Vasic (Maple, Ontario/Maple) at the back post; he headed the ball back to Divis who saw his shot from close range stopped by Bradley goalkeeper Drew Berry. 

Bradley doubled its advantage against the run of play in the 35th minute as a cross from the right side from Francesco Pettinaroli found Koulai all alone inside the box and he fired a shot past Arslan who had no chance as the Braves took a 2-0 lead. 

In the 41st minute, NIU pulled a goal back as Hernandez scored his second goal of the season. Grant Paskus (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) had the ball on the left side and played it to Divis who flicked it over into the path of Hernandez. The Bensenville, Ill. native made no mistake from 10 yards to cut the Bradley lead in half with less than five minutes to play in the opening half. 

Bradley restored its two-goal lead just four minutes after the interval as Ian Ferguson had the ball in the box to the left of the NIU goal and slid a ball to Mitch Coughlon all alone on the top of the six. Coughlon slotted the ball into the net past a helpless Arslan to put the Braves in front, 3-1. 

A good string of possession from the Huskies led to a second goal for NIU as Divis scored in the 63rd minute. Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary) fired a low cross from the left side and Divis got just enough of a touch to redirect the ball past Berry and bring the Huskies back within a goal. 

Divis nearly scored again just a minute later as he rattled a shot off the post to the left of Berry. 

Kevin Kelly (Dublin, Ireland/St. Joseph Rush) then had a chance to pull the Huskies level in the 81st minute as he slid around a Bradley defender for a shot from 20 yards, but Bradley reserve goalkeeper Alex Grow made the save. Kelly had another opportunity four minutes later as William Mugisha (Salt Lake City, Utah/Cottonwood) combined with Jose Gomez (Roatan, Honduras/Clarkes University) who slipped Kelly in for a chance that was straight at Grow.

Moments later the Huskies were level on Divis' second goal of the game. Kelly whipped in an outstanding cross and Divis flashes a header past a helpless Grow to tie the game at three. 

With his two goals and one assist tonight, Divis finishes the season with four goals and two assists. 

"Sam has been really good, especially in the second half of the season," said Swan of Divis. "His attitude in training, he has stepped into a leadership role, he's done a lot of really positive things. I know he was getting frustrated that he hadn't scored more goals, but when he scored his first a couple of weeks ago, we figured that would probably open things up. He gets in dangerous positions; he creates chances and he's been fantastic. I think there is a lot of goals in Sam over the next couple of years hopefully."

NIU finishes the season with a 3-12-1 mark, 1-6-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play, Bradley closes with a 4-8-4 record, 1-5-2 in the league.