SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A near hour-long lightning delay proved to be worth the wait as Bradley (14-4-1, 5-1-1) earned its second Missouri Valley Conference regular-season men's soccer championship by pulling out a 1-0 victory at Missouri State (12-3-2, 4-3-0) Saturday night at the Cooper Sports Complex.
Sophomore forward Teddy Anderson netted the winner with a first-half goal from a Bradley throw-in and senior goalkeeper Chris Dunsheath made the goal stand by setting the Valley career record with 26.5 shutouts. Dunsheath also set the school single-season record with his 10th shutout of the year.
Bradley was awarded the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament through a bid process last summer and the Braves now will host the six-team championship as the top seed. The Braves will receive a first-round bye and will play Wednesday's Drake-Missouri State winner in Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal game at Shea Stadium.
The tournament will begin Wednesday at Shea Stadium with a 5 p.m. quarterfinal game between No. 3 seed Vanderbilt (9-6-1, 4-2-1) and No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois (5-9-2, 2-4-1). Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. quarterfinal will feature No. 4 seed Drake (8-8-2, 4-2-1) against No. 5 seed Missouri State (12-3-2, 4-3-0). Friday's 5 p.m . semifinal game will feature No. 2 seed Creighton (10-4-3, 5-2-0) versus the Vanderbilt/Eastern Illinois winner. Friday's semifinal winners will meet in the championship game Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. at Shea Stadium with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
In evenly contested game -- Missouri State outshot Bradley 11-10 and both team had six corner kicks -- the Braves got the difference maker in the 40th minute following a long throw. With the ball pinballing in the penalty area, sophomore Nick Mentgen was able to back heel a pass to Anderson, who buried his sixth goal of the season at 39:07. Five of Anderson's six goals this season have been game-winners.
Dunsheath saved all four of Missouri State's shots on goal to break the old Valley career shutouts record of 26.0 set by Missouri State's Mark Modersohn from 1997 through 2000.
