As the victories keep accumulating, undoubtedly so will the recognition.

Just don’t look for the eighth-ranked Tremper soccer team to start getting full of itself.

“It’s something that we preach every day to them. Just coming from last year, we’re all smart enough to know that we’ve got a little bit of a target on our back and each day that we get more accolades that target does nothing but shine more,” coach Chris Tindall said after his Trojans defeated Bradford 2-0 Tuesday night at Ameche Field to improve to 9-0-2 overall and 2-0 in the Southeast Conference.

“We’re going to take everybody’s best game. The neat thing about this group is they have a lot of goals ... but one of the first things they said is we don’t want to take anybody for granted all year long. I think they just understand the fact if you come out and you’re flat and lackadaisical, we’re good but we’re not good enough that nobody can beat us on any given night.”

Tremper, which unofficially outshot Bradford 22-7, couldn’t put the Red Devils away despite dominating possession the entire game.

Bradford goalie Dylan Rausch made 10 saves — most of them in spectacular diving fashion — in the first 70 minutes to keep the Red Devils (6-3-1, 1-1 SEC) in it.

Tremper senior forward Nathan Oster’s shot from a couple yards outside the penalty box caromed off Rausch to Tremper’s Jesus Oseguera, who kicked the ball into the right corner of the net for a 1-0 Tremper lead just under 12 minutes into the first half.

Despite their limited scoring opportunities, the Red Devils nearly tied it in the 74th minute when Cesar Gutierrez rifled a free kick from the Tremper 33-yard line off the top right corner of the crossbar. That followed a line drive from Rausch, who had switched to offense, from 25 yards out that was dead on target but sailed over the goal.

“There were a few chances we had,” said Bradford coach Matt Kellner, who admitted his team was slow playing the ball most of the night, partly because the Red Devils hadn’t faced an opponent with as much speed as Tremper so far this season.

“Obviously, they controlled a lot of the shots and we’re just looking to learn from this and play better offensively,” Kellner continued. “I thought as the game progressed we did some better things at the end of the game.

“Maybe if we see them again next time at playoff time, we’ll respond (better) and have a little more confidence.”

Oster gave Tremper a 2-0 advantage at 76:43 after taking a pass from Connor Hildebrandt and depositing a shot inside the far left post.

“I felt a lot of them should have gone in,” Oster said. “Their goalie just made some phenomenal saves.”

Tremper finished 19-4-2 in 2008 but was upset by Milton 2-1 in a sectional semifinal. Oster said that loss has motivated him and his teammates to make a farther playoff run this season.

“I think our whole team has good heads on their shoulders,” Oster said. “I think we know what we want, and I don’t think we’re going to get distracted by any of the hype.”