Championship ? Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 ? 1 p.m. ? Peoria, Ill. ? Shea Stadium

(1) #17 Bradley Braves (15-4-1, 5-1-1 MVC)

vs.

(2) #18 Creighton Bluejays (11-4-3, 5-2-0 MVC)

Television:  MVC-TV (Fox SportsNet Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Fox College Sports)

Tournament Ticket Info

Single-Session Adult:  $6

Single-Session Youth (K-12):  $2

Single-Session Senior Citizen:  $2

First 500 children to Sunday's championship game will

Parking:  $2/car

Top Two Seeds Vie for Title

?   For the first time since 1997, the top two finishers in the Valley regular-season race will meet for the State Farm MVC Men's Soccer Championship Sunday afternoon when No. 1 seed and 17th-ranked Bradley hosts the No. 2 seed and 18th-ranked Creighton.

?   In fact, in the 15-year history of the MVC Tournament, the 2005 final will mark just the sixth time the top two seeds will meet for the championship.

Bradley REaches Fifth Final

?   Bradley is making its fifth appearance in the MVC Tournament championship game, all since 1999, and its second as the host school.

?   The Braves are 0-3-1 in their previous four championship games, including a 2-1 loss to Creighton in four overtimes in 2000 and a 1-0 loss to the Bluejays in 2002, both at Sportport in suburban St. Louis.

?   By contrast, Creighton is making its 11th appearance in the MVC Tournament championship game and the Bluejays own eight of the previous 14 tourney titles.

Bradley-Creighton Series

?   Including a 3-2 victory Oct. 15 in Omaha, Creighton owns a 16-3-0 lead in the all-time series versus Bradley and the Bluejays have won seven straight versus the Braves.

?   In his second stint as the Creighton head coach, Bob Warming owns a perfect 11-0-0 versus Bradley and 6-0 in his head-to-head meetings versus 10th-year Braves head coach Jim DeRose.

?   Bradley's three series wins came in a four-game stretch from 1998 through 2000, including a 1-0 victory in the 1999 MVC Tournament semifinals at Chiefs Club Field and a 4-1 victory Oct. 20, 2000 at the same site for the most-lopsided Valley loss in Creighton's history.

Fourth Postseason Meeting

?   Sunday's championship clash will be the fourth postseason meeting in the Bradley-Creighton series and the first three have been epic battles.

?   In the 1999 semifinals at Chiefs Club Field, Hamid Mehreioskouei scored in the 36th minute and Braves keeper Adam Gross made a then-tournament record 11 saves for a 1-0 Bradley victory.

?   The next season, Bradley and Creighton played the longest game in Valley history, a four-overtime thriller for the title, which the Bluejays won, 2-1, on Brian Mullan's second goal of the day in the 141st minute.

?   In the 2002 championship game, Creighton prevailed 1-0, thanks to Matt Jewett's goal in the 61st minute.

?   Creighton owns a 2-1-0 edge in the postseason series versus Bradley.

Head Coach Jim DeRose

?   Jim DeRose (Johnson State ?89) is in his 10th year as the head coach at Bradley, which remains his first head coaching position.

?   DeRose boasts a 119-69-17 (.622) career record, including a 41-31-8 (.563) mark in MVC games.

?   DeRose's victory total accounts for 70.0 percent of Bradley's 170 wins in the 19-year history of the program and he owns all but three of Bradley's all-time Valley wins (44-55-9).

8,000-Minute Man

?   With a little more than 1,827 minutes in the books this season, Bradley senior goalkeeper Chris Dunsheath has become the fifth keeper in NCAA Division I history, and the sixth goalie in all divisions of NCAA men's soccer, to play more than 8,000 career minutes.

?   Dunsheath, who has played all but 15-minutes, 55-seconds of Bradley's time since the start of the 2002 season, currently ranks fifth in NCAA Division I history with 8016:32 of goalkeeper time.

?   Dunsheath has an outside shot at the NCAA record for goalkeeper time (8306 minutes), but the Braves will need to advance deep into the NCAA Tournament as he still needs to play a little more than three regulation games.

Dunsheath's Records

?   In addition to Dunsheath's pursuit of the NCAA record for minutes played, Bradley's preseason All-American already owns the Valley career records for shutouts (27.5) and minutes, as well as the majority of Bradley's single-season and career keeper records.

?   Dunsheath, who has broken his own single-season school record with 11.0 shutouts this season, would tie the MVC single-season record with a shutout Sunday.

Senior-Itis

?   Bradley's 30-man roster features 12 seniors who have combined for 717 individual games played for the Braves and 799 career college games.

?   Bradley's starting lineup in this year's regular-season meeting Oct. 12 versus Drake included seven seniors and three more came of the bench for substantial time.

?   Eleven of Bradley's 12 seniors played in Friday's semifinal game versus Drake.

Double-Digit Streak

?   With a 15-4-1 record to date this year, Bradley has extended its streak of consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins to nine, dating back to the team's 11-8-0 record in 1997.

?   The streak of consecutive 10-win seasons is the second-longest in Missouri Valley Conference history, trailing only Creighton's current run of 16 straight seasons.

School Record For Wins

?   Bradley's 15 wins equals the single-season school record, which was originally set with a 15-7-2 mark during the 2000 NCAA Tournament season.

Defense Leads the Way

?   Chris Dunsheath is a tremendous insurance policy to have tending the net, but the work of Bradley's defense has been a huge factor in the team's success this season.

?   The Braves boast a league-best 0.69 goals against average and have allowed only 14 goals in 20 games.

?   The opposition has managed to put only 92 shots on target in the 20 games, an average of just 4.6 shots on goal per game.

?   Despite his relative lack of work, Dunsheath has remained sharp by making 75 saves for a league-best .843 saves percentage.

Offense by Committee

?   After graduating the team's top two scorers -- Preston Good and Luke Kreamalmeyer -- from each of the last three seasons, Bradley entered the 2005 season expecting that its offensive production would have to be handled by committee.

?   While junior college transfer Zach Bell (7 goals) and sophomore forward Teddy Anderson (6 goals) have helped to offset the graduation losses, Bradley's offensive production in 2005 has in fact been a group effort.

?   The Braves have received goals from 13 different players this season and at least one point from 18 of the 21 position players who have played this season.

History Not on BU's Side

?   History does not favor Bradley as the Braves prepare for Friday's MVC Tournament semifinal as the top seed and host school.

?   The 2005 State Farm MVC Tournament is the 10th to be played entirely at campus sites and the host school has not won the title since Creighton's championship in 1994 at Tranquility Park in Omaha.

?   This is the second time Bradley has served as the host school and the second time the Braves have been the top seed.

?   As the host in 1999, Bradley upset #11 Creighton in the semifinals, but lost the championship game to #9 Missouri State in overtime, 2-1, at Chiefs Club Field.

?   As the top seed in 1998, Bradley dropped a 1-0 decision to host Missouri State in the semifinals.

Rankings Talk

?   The top two seeds in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament are ranked in each of the four major college soccer polls this week.

?   Bradley, which made its season debut in the polls this week, is ranked as high as 17th in the NSCAA/adidas Senior National Poll.

?   Creighton in 18th in the SoccerTimes.com Top 25 College Coaches Poll.