EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Jack Twellman headed the ball in from 12 yards out off a throw-in as Southern Illinois University Edwardsville began the Missouri Valley Conference era with a 3-2 overtime triumph over Bradley Saturday night.

The Cougars, 6-4-1 and 1-0 in MVC play, chose Homecoming 2010 as the time to play their first conference matchup. SIUE gave the crowd of 3,352 at Korte Stadium a fantastic game to watch.

"Wow - just a phenomenal game," said SIUE Head Coach Kevin Kalish. "I'm really proud of the guys."

Twellman scored his third game-winning goal of the season Saturday. It also was his second goal in overtime this season.

"Jack did a great job of getting his head on it (the ball) and finally found the back of the net," said Kalish.

Nash Maduekwe came from the far right side of the field to throw the ball in from the left side just a few yards near Bradley's bench. He tossed it into the box and right to Twellman, who pushed it past Bradley goalkeeper Brian Billings.

"Give our guys a lot of credit they found a way to win," said Kalish.

The Cougars had come out in a fury in the opening minutes of the game. SIUE collected five shots in the first five minutes of the game, including the game's first score by Chris Anzalone. The Cougar senior scored his second goal of the year at 4:15. Anzalone connected from 16 yards out off a cross from Benny Jeffery.

"We started out strong which was one of our goals."

Bradley, now 5-6-1 overall and 0-1 in MVC play, was more efficient with their shots. The Braves would tie the game up on their second shot of the game at 20:25. Bryan Gaul, the MVC's leading scorer, scored his seventh of the year at 20:25. He scored off a header on the back post which came from a corner kick from Aodhan Quinn.

SIUE, which outshot the Braves 16-7 for the match, would answer quickly when Anzalone added an assist to his scoring ledger. Anzalone passed it to Brian Groark, who would score his first goal of the season from eight yards out.

The game went to halftime tied 2-2 when Bradley scored on another restart. This time Jochen Graf served the ball into the box from 40 yards out to Tommy Fritze, who would head it in past SIUE goalkeeper Nick Collico.

Neither team found the net in the second half as the two teams settled their defenses.

Anzalone would lead SIUE with five shots followed by three from Matt Spiess.

SIUE now hits the road for its first Missouri Valley game. The Cougars travel to Evansville, Ind., to take on the Purple Aces Wednesday in a 7 p.m. game. Evansville opened up the MVC season with a 2-1 loss Saturday at Drake.

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