[NORTHWESTERN-BRADLEY] Last month, Bradley knocked off No. 1 UConn, 1-0, on the road. On Wednesday, the Braves traveled to No. 3 Northwestern and beat theWildcats, 3-2, on freshman forward Christian Okeke‘s golden goal, the second of his first two collegiate goals, with less than three minutes remaining in thefirst overtime.
Northwestern registered six shutouts during its seven-game winning streak that propelled it up the rankings ladder, but the Braves took a 2-0 lead, survived the hometeam’s rally to tie and netted the winner in overtime to put three goals past the Wildcats for the second year in a row. Bradley earned a 3-1 win over the eventual Big Ten Conference champions lastseason in Peoria and now boasts a 5-1-0 all-time record against Northwestern.
Okeke took control of a loose ball near midfield and dribbled uncontested to the top of the penalty area andbeat NU keeper Tyler Miller with a low shot inside the right post in the eighth minute for his first career goal.
Another Northwestern turnovergave Bradley its second goal eight minutes into the second half as Aaron Birk raced in and beat Miller.
Northwestern finally broke through whenJoey Calistri struck for his ninth and 10th goals of the season in the 77th and 85th minutes.