Braves Earn Third NCAA Bid
? Bradley received its third at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament in six years and the Braves will host a first round game Friday versus Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
? Bradley is 0-2 in its previous two NCAA Tournament appearances, falling at home to Illinois-Chicago (1-0) in 2000 and New Mexico (2-1) in 2002.
? Ironically, Illinois-Chicago is a Horizon League rival of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and New Mexico awaits the winner of Friday's game in the second round.
Rematch With the panthers
? Friday's NCAA Tournament first round game will be a rematch of a regular-season meeting between Bradley and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which the Panthers won 3-2 Sept. 13 in Milwaukee.
? Bradley took a quick 1-0 lead in that game on a Zach Bell goal, but the Panthers overwhelmed the Braves with three straight goals to start the second half.
? Wisconsin-Milwaukee will become the third team Bradley will have played twice this season, joining Drake (2-0) and Creighton (0-2).
Series Notes
? Wisconsin-Milwaukee owns a 2-0-1 lead in the all-time series versus Bradley.
? In addition to this season's 3-2 decision in Milwaukee, the teams played a 1-1 draw Oct. 3, 2004 at Shea Stadium.
? The first meeting resulted in a 9-0 Panthers victory Sept. 23, 1990 in Milwaukee, which remains the second-most lopsided loss in Bradley history.
Common Foes
? In addition to their own regular-season meeting, Bradley and UW-Milwaukee have played five common opponents in 2005.
? Both teams defeated Northwestern by 3-1 scores in the preseason.
? During the regular-season, Bradley was a collective 4-1-0 versus Butler (0-1), Drake (2-0), Illinois-Chicago (1-0) and Northern Illinois (1-0).
? Wisconsin-Milwaukee owns a 3-0-2 record against those same four teams: Butler (2-0), Drake (0-0-1), Illinois-Chicago (0-0-1) and Northern Illinois (1-0).
Common Stats
? In addition to the five common opponents this season, Bradley and Wisconsin-Milwaukee have put up some common statistics.
? Both teams have played 21 games and posted nearly identical winning percentages.
? Both teams also own 34 goals and have allowed 16 goals, while posting 11 shutouts.
To the Victor
? The winner of Friday's first round game will travel to Albuquerque, N.M. for a Tuesday night game at New Mexico (15-1-2).
? The Lobos are the tournament's No. 2 seed and are ranked as high as No. 1 in the country by SoccerTimes.com.
? New Mexico earned an automatic bid as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion.
About the Panthers
? Wisconsin-Milwaukee is making its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and its eighth overall trip to the postseason.
? The Panthers tied for second during the Horizon League regular-season race then secured the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Horizon League Tournament at Detroit.
? Wisconsin-Milwaukee has won five of its last six games, including its last four in a row in shutout fashion.
? The Panthers returned 16 lettermen, including eight starters, from the 2004 squad that went 14-5-3 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tourney.
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 119-70-17 (.619) 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).
Bradley's At-Large Resume
? Bradley earned its at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament after winning its second Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship.
? The Braves also are tied for second in the nation with a school recordy-tying 15 wins, trailing only Akron's 17 wins and equalled by Connecticut (15-3-1), Maryland (15-4-1), New Mexico (15-1-2), North Carolina (15-3-3) and UNC-Greensboro (15-5-0).
? Highlighted by a seven-game winning streak that ended with the MVC Tournament final loss to Creighton, Bradley went 8-2-0 in its final 10 games.
? While chasing the Valley regular-season title, the Braves also won a pair of midweek games versus NSCAA Midwest Region top five teams, Oct. 26 versus Northern Illinois (1-0) and Nov. 1 versus Illinois-Chicago (4-1).
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.
? Bradley is one of six teams in the nation with at least 15 victories this year:
Akron................ 17-1-2
Connecticut.......... 15-3-1
Maryland............. 15-4-1
New Mexico........... 15-1-2
North Carolina....... 15-3-3
UNC-Greensboro....... 15-5-0
8,000-Minute Man
? With a little more than 1,917 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 8106:32 of goalkeeper time.
? Dunsheath will move into third place on the all-time list Friday and he 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 two 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 Friday.
More On Dunsheath
? Dunsheath became the second player in Bradley history be voted the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year during the league's postseason banquet last season.
? Dunsheath also was the league's first-team goalkeeper for the third consecutive season.
? Including his second-team All-MVC honor as a freshman, Dunsheath became the seventh player in Valley history, and first-ever goalkeeper, to earn first- or second-team all-conference honors during his career.
Senior-Itis
? Bradley's 30-man roster features 12 seniors who have combined for 727 individual games played for the Braves and 809 career college games.
? Ten of Bradley's 12 seniors played in Sunday's MVC Tournament championship game versus Creighton.
Double-Digit Streak
? With a 15-5-1 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.
Home Field Advantage
? Bradley is completing its third year of playing home games at Shea Stadium, a facility formerly known as Pete Vonachen Stadium at Meinen Field that served as Bradley's home baseball stadium from 1970 through 2003.
? The Braves are 10-2-0 at home this season, tying the school-record for home wins in a season originally set during the first season at Shea Stadium in 2003 with a 10-2-1 record.
? In three years at the new facility, Bradley boasts a 26-7-2 (.771) record at Shea Stadium.
? After experiencing problems with drainage on the original playing surface, Bradley University invested $500,000 in a new playing surface and drainage system during the offseason and the new, flat natural grass playing surface has the ability to drain up to 15 inches of precipitation an hour.
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 Valley-best 0.75 goals against average and have allowed only 16 goals in 21 games.
? The opposition has managed to put only 98 shots on target in the 21 games, an average of just 4.67 shots on goal per game.
? Despite his relative lack of work, Dunsheath has remained sharp by making 79 saves for an impressive .832 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.
HAge Earns Academic Honor
? Senior defender Adam Hage was voted first-team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District last week and is now eligible for Academic All-America honors.
? Hage, who serves as the president of Bradley's student-athlete advisory board, boasts a 3.75 cumulative grade point average in risk management and insurance.
