PEORIA, Ill. -- After completing a sweep of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and postseason tournament championships by snaring a 1-0 road win versus #7 Creighton Sunday in the championship game of the State Farm MVC Tournament, Bradley (14-5-3) has cracked the national rankings for the first time this season.  Bradley is No. 21 in Soccer America magazine's Top 25 poll today, marking the first time the Braves have cracked the top 25 in any of the four major polls since the end of the 2005 season.

The Braves will play in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time (2000, 2002, 2005) after claiming their first State Farm MVC Tournament championship and will learn the first-round matchup today when the pairing are announced between 4:30 and 5 p.m. on ESPNews.  The team will host a NCAA Tournament Selection Show viewing party, beginning this afternoon at 4 o'clock, at the Lariat Steakhouse (2232 W. Glen).

Bradley owns 14 wins to date, tied for third most in the program's history and one shy of the single-season school record, and the Braves have been particularly hot of late.  Since a 2-1 loss Oct. 14 at Western Michigan dropped the Braves to 6-4-2 on the season, Bradley has gone on a tear by posting a 8-1-1 record in its last 10 games.  The Braves have been especially strong on the defensive end the last 10 games, allowing a total of just five goals during the finishing stretch and no more than one tally in any of those games.