PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley (14-5-3) will host in-state rival DePaul (12-7-0) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 o'clock Saturday night at Shea Stadium. The winner of Saturday night's first-round pairing will visit perennial national power Indiana (13-4-4) in the second round Nov. 28.
Tickets for Saturday's NCAA first-round game will be $5 for adults and $2 for youth (k-12). As a Thanksgiving treat, the Bradley Braves Club booster organization will cover the admission prices for Bradley University students, faculty and staff, all with valid identification, permitting Bradley to continue its regular-season ticket policy of allowing free admission for those groups. Parking at Shea Stadium (1523 W. Nebraska Ave.) is $2 per vehicle.
The Braves earned an automatic bid to their fourth NCAA Tournament by winning the State Farm MVC Tournament this past weekend at Creighton's Morrison Stadium. In addition to sweeping The Valley's regular-season and postseason tournament championships, Bradley rolls into the NCAA Tournament with an 8-1-1 record in its last 10 games. Bradley has allowed just five goals in those 10 contests. Bradley is 8-2-0 at home this season with the two losses against NCAA Tournament participants Illinois-Chicago (1-0 in overtime) and Saint Louis (2-0).
DePaul has been one of the surprise teams in the nation this season and the Blue Demons are making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Coming off 5-12-2 record last season, DePaul won the Red Division of the Big East Conference this fall by posting a 7-4 league record, but settled for an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament after falling to Notre Dame, 2-1, in the Big East Conference Tournament semifinals. Among its victims, DePaul knocked off then No.2-ranked Connecticut, 1-0, Sept. 23 in Chicago. The Blue Demons also split a pair of Big East games against Cincinnati, a team Bradley dumped, 1-0, Sept. 16 at Shea Stadium. DePaul is 3-5-0 on the road this season and 3-6-0 overall away from home.
Bradley owns a 4-1-2 series advantage against DePaul, including a 2-0 victory in the only previous meeting at Shea Stadium Sept. 2, 2005. The two teams met every year from 1988 through 1993 then went 11 seasons without meeting until that 2005 game. Bradley owns a 3-1-0 home record against the Blue Demons: 1-0 at Notre Dame High School, 1-1 at Becker Park and 1-1 at Shea Stadium. Despite the relative proximity of the first-round rivals, Cincinnati is the only common opponent for the Braves and Blue Demons this season.
Both teams will be looking for their first-ever NCAA Tournament wins. While DePaul will be playing its first-ever NCAA Tournament game, Bradley is making its fourth appearance in the national championship event. The Braves also hosted first-round games in 2000, 2002 and 2005 as an at-large selection, but fell to Illinois-Chicago (1-0), New Mexico (2-1) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-0), respectively.
