Bradley Central soccer picked up two wins Tuesday night against the visiting McMinn County Cherokees, at Bear Stadium.
The varsity Bears wasted no time jumping out to a 1-0 when Nikolai Shapoval found the back of the net. Shapoval beat his defender on the left side, found himself one-on-one with the McMinn keeper, and fired a shot into the back of the net.
Bradley’s defense and senior keeper Skylar Pirkle kept the Cherokees scoreless and took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
The second half started out much the way the first half did. Shapoval again found the back of the net. This time firing a 25-yard strike into the upper corner of the net, giving Bradley a 2-0 lead.
The Cherokees made it 2-1 when they beat Pirkle from 15 yards out. However, that is the closest they would get. The Bear's defense and Pirkle clamped down to preserve the victory.
For the game, Bradley recorded 12 shots to McMinn’s 10. Bradley recorded three corners, while the Cherokees had two. Pirkle recorded seven saves in the game.
In the JV action, the Bears started the night off with a dominating 3-0 win.
The Bear defense was so good, that McMinn County did not record a shot on goal for the entire game, meanwhile Bradley recorded two first-half goals.
Nicholas Cardosa started off the scoring for the Bears when he found the back of the net with 12:53 left in the half. Anderson Martel made it 2-0 when he scored with just 1:53 left in the half.
After the intermission, Jude Deuster made it 3-0 when he scored just five minutes into the second half. The Bradley defense did the rest from there in preserving the shutout.
For the game, Bradley had 18 shots compared to McMinn’s one. The Bears also recorded eight corner kicks to the Cherokee's one.
Bradley’s varsity soccer team was back in action a day after taking down McMinn County, when they hosted Chattanooga Prep.
Once again the Bears started fast, when Brandon Vivas found the back of the net just six minutes into the game. Vivas beat his defender and slipped a shot past the keeper into the right side of the net.
The Bears dominated possession in the first half, but just could not finish their opportunities. The first half ended 1-0.
The second half was back-and-forth as both offenses found their footing. Both defenses were equal to the task though.
Bradley’s defense led by Kaedon Howell, Jonas Pols, and Alan Lopez-Vivas kept Chattanooga Prep scoreless.
Alex Garcia and Nikolai Shaoval controlled the mid-field for Bradley. Valentin Simon also drew numerous free kicks for the Bears throughout the game.
Pirkle made four saves, while the Sentinals kepper stopped eight shots.
Bradley outshot Chatt Prep just 8-7, while the visitors had a half dozen corner kicks to none for the home team.
