The Game
The Game
Just returned home from the game. Wake was dominant! Easy to see why they are the #1 ranked team. They have at least 2-3 future pro players/All-American type studs! I doubt anyone from this Bradley team is pro caliber. None-the-less, Bradley is a scrappy and classy bunch.
Both teams and schools are class acts - Wake had a moment of silence prior to the game for Dahlquist; Bradley's players walked past the center of the field at games' end to salute and applaud the loyal Bradley fans in attendance. What was great was that there were at least 50 -75 BU fans at the game, all in BU attire
Tornado was correct. BU was outshot over 3-1 and Wake controlled the ball for AT LEAST 75% of the game. Bradley played a very smart game, however. They knew they could not run with Wake and played a defensive counterpunch style for 42 of the 43 first half minutes. The Braves then got aggressive and tried to sneek a goal before halftime. My second and third picture below show the near misses.
The second half was much of the same with BU continuing to play cat and mouse for the first half of the second half. Wake scored their first goal at the 25 minute mark of the second half and the Braves were forced to open up their game - big mistake, but really know other choice. Wake scored all three goals in a 10 minute stretch. Their second goal was an unbelievable highlite header off of a corner kick! I was awed! This was one of their future MLS players who scored. Goal three was by another future MLS player.
All in all, I was very impressed by the effort and character of our Braves. Unfortunately, we don't have any "game-changer" type players this year. Wake had two or three Gavin Glinton-type studs. Their team was faster, quicker, more explosive and had bigger athletes.
(It's dinner time.......I'll have to post the pictures within the hour)