PEORIA, IL – For the second straight game Hartwick men's soccer battled into overtime but this time the Hawks came away with a positive result in a 1-1 draw with host Bradley University in the opening round of the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic at a rain-soaked Shea Stadium. Hartwick had the clearest chance of the overtimes to pick up the victory, but a Chris Walter (Snyder, NY/Nichols School) blast from the corner of the 18-yard box rattled the crossbar with a few minutes to play in the first session.
           
The Hawks are now 0-1-1 on the year. Bradley is 1-1-1.
           
Hartwick coach John Scott was happy with the effort of the Hawks on the night. He was much happier than last Friday.

“The boys played a very strong match tonight against a team which was ranked in the top 25 until this week. We underperformed at St. Joseph's last week and to come in here, play like we did, and get a draw against a quality side like Bradley is a good accomplishment.”
           
The Hawks wanted to be the aggressors in the early stages of the match and they did just that. Tim Crawford (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas HS) had a pair of solid scoring chances within the first 12 minutes.
           
“We stressed all week that we wanted the guys to have the courage to go right at this team and attack,” said Scott. “Tim had some chances in the beginning of the game. Their goalkeeper came up big to keep it tied.”
           
Neither team was able to break the draw in the first half. The host Braves finished the first 45 minutes with a slim 6-5 margin in shots.
           
Crawford had the first real chance of either side in the second half with roughly 21 minutes remaining. Senior Will Broomfield (Brighton, England/Cloud Community College) dribbled into the Bradley box with one defender to beat and he laid the ball off to an overlapping Crawford. His shot, however, was deflected by a sliding Brave defender and the ball went out of bounds for a corner.
           
Hartwick finally broke the tie with 9:10 to play in regulation. On a counterattack up the middle, a shot was not handled by Brave goalie Brian Billings. Crawford was there to finish off the play for his first goal of the season which gave 'Wick a 1-0 edge. Jhevaughn Beckford (Kingston, Jamaica/Wolmer's Boys' School) earned an assist on the play.
             
The advantage did not last long. Just 50 seconds after Crawford spotted the Hawks the lead, Keegan Balle served a ball into the Hartwick box which was chested down by Jochen Graf. With a defender on his back, Graf touched a pass back to Desmond Campbell whose blast from the top of the box eluded Mateo Munarriz (Manizares, Colombia) up high to even the match.
           
Hartwick was fortunate not to surrender the game-winner in the waning minutes of the second half. Campbell nearly got a second goal following a corner with under a minute left, but his header hit the crossbar. The ball appeared to bounce straight down and the Bradley players appealed to the linesman that it had crossed the line but to no avail and the game went to extra time.
           
With 2:51 left to play in the first overtime, freshman David Styles (Bognor Regis, England/St. Phillip Howard) played a short corner to Walter. He unleashed a rocket which beat Billings but hit the cross bar as the Hawks were unlucky not to get the game-winner.
           
With under a minute to go, it was Munarriz to the rescue to secure the 1-1 draw. He came off his line to rob Brad Davis who had received a short pass and walked in alone on goal.
           
Hartwick trailed Bradley in shots for the match 22-14.  Munarriz made five saves while Billings ended the contest with three stops for the hosts.
           
'Wick plays Mercer University on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Bears won the first match of the night with a 2-0 shutout of Nebraska-Omaha.