The amazing journey of Bradley University and Floyds Knobs native Brad Snook ended against No. 5 Ohio State on a wet and cold day at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus Sunday.
After a fairly even and scoreless first half, the wheels began to come off the Peoria Braves’ wagon one by one after a penalty was awarded against them in the 58th minute. Buckeyes senior Xavier Balc made no mistake converting the spot kick and 12 minutes later a visibly tiring Bradley found itself 4-0 the worse following goals by Geoff Marsh, Balc and Andrew Magill.
The 600 plus traveling support may have known the game was up - even considering the
The Braves’ miraculous comeback last week against Maryland when 2-0 down with 157 seconds left on the clock - but it didn’t dampen their enthusiasm.
Eight busloads left Peoria for the 400 mile trip but only seven made it as one had its journey aborted by dodgy windshield wipers.
Those on the wiper-injured bus reloaded onto the fully functioning coaches to join a few hundred other fans who made their own way just minutes before kick-off.
With the game lost, they sang and chanted as if they had just won the World Cup. “Everywhere we Go” and “Mighty Might Braves” were among the repertoire. This may have been the end of an amazing journey on the field, but it is not the end of the story.
Redshirt freshman Danny Dahlquist died just before the season started on August 12 in a house fire that resulted from a prank that went wrong. Three teammates and another friend were charged and are scheduled to stand trial in January.
Despite adversity and encouraged by Danny's parents and six brothers and sisters, the Braves showed indomitable spirit to go on and win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, share in its third consecutive MVC championship, and - despite never winning an NCAA game before this season - make it to the Elite Eight following wins over DePaul, Indiana University and Maryland.
“It's been a heck of a ride this season,” said Snook, who will return as senior next year. “From the worst thing that could possibly happen right before preseason, to now, the whole story has been pretty incredible.”
Meanwhile, Big Ten champion Ohio State, a program which will next year feature another of the area’s products in New Albany’s Nathan Driggers, take on unseeded Massachusetts - who beat Illinois-Chicago - in the College Cup semifinal at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina Friday evening (7 p.m.).
The other semifinal will see No. 11 Virginia Tech take on No. 2 Wake Forest (5 p.m.), after they recorded wins against Connecticut and Notre Dame respectively.
The final is down for decision on Sunday, with the kick-off at 3 p.m. You can follow all the action this weekend on ESPN.
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