PEORIA, Ill. – Missouri State rode a 38th minute goal by Emmerich Hoegg and two world-class saves from Trevor Spangenberg in the second half to a 1-0 victory against host Bradley Saturday night at Shea Stadium.

Not only did the visiting Bears (10-3-2, 5-0-0 MVC) spoil Bradley’s Senior Night, but the Bears clinched the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title outright with their fifth shutout in as many league games.  The loss means Bradley (8-6-2, 2-2-1 MVC) can finish no better than a tie for second in the final MVC standings, but the Braves will lose a potential tiebreaker to Drake and cannot be seeded higher than third in the MVC Men’s Soccer Championship, which begins Nov. 13 at Shea Stadium.

Often playing with five defenders behind Bradley’s top forward, Missouri State waited patiently for its opportunity at the goal and made good use of a throw in from the left side of its offensive half.  The Braves got caught flat-footed on the restart and when Hoegg slipped in behind the Bradley defense on the right side of the box, he was able to beat sliding keeper Brian Billings with a top shelf shot from 10 yards out for the 1-0 lead at 37:16.

Maintaining its defensive wall, Missouri State shortened the game in the second half with constant substitutions and Spangenberg made the strategy pay off with a pair of huge saves.  In the 72nd minute, Alon Badat managed to bounce a shot in traffic from the center of the penalty area, but Spangenberg tipped the ball over the bar at the last second to force a corner kick.  In the 76th minute, Scott Davis appeared poised for the equalizer when he shot to the top right corner, but Spagenberg again came up big with a diving deflection to preserve the clean sheat.

Despite Spangenberg’s second-half heroics, Bradley’s best opportunity to score may have come during a wild flurry in a span of 60 seconds midway through first half.  The Braves generated three shots and three corner kicks from 18:28 to 19:28 and the third shot by Wojciech Wojcik glanced off the right post.

The Braves saw another opportunity early in the second half go unrewarded:  forward Christian Okeke was able to collect a pass from Wojick about five yards out at the left post and when he turned to fire, two Missouri State defenders fell into him from behind, taking him to the ground.

Bradley will take a breather from the MVC race with a non-conference game Tuesday at Eastern Illinois, then will close out the regular season Saturday night at Evansville.  As one of the 3-6 seeds in the MVC Men’s Soccer Championship, Bradley will play the 6 p.m. game in the first round Nov. 13 at Shea Stadium.  Missouri State will receive a first-round bye and will open tourney play in the Nov. 15 semifinals against the winner of the first-round game between the 4 and 5 seeds.

 

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