PEORIA, Ill. ? With six buses reserved already, the Bradley Department of Athletics will continue to accept reservations until 5 p.m. Thursday for fans interested in attending Sunday's NCAA Men's Soccer Championship quarterfinal game between the #21 Braves (16-4-5) and #10 Ohio State (15-3-5) at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus.
Reservations may be made through 5 p.m. Thursday at the Bradley Athletics Ticket Office (309-677-2625) in Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse for the Sunday day-trip. The buses will leave Robertson Fieldhouse at 5 a.m. Sunday for the noon (CST) game in Columbus and are expected to return to Peoria at approximately 9:30 Sunday night. Subsidized by the Bradley Braves Club booster organization, the cost of the day trip, which does not include the game admission price, is $50 for general fans, $40 for Braves Club members and their immediate families and $5 for Bradley University students. Game tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children and students. Bradley student tickets will be paid for.
For fans unable to attend Sunday's game, WMBD AM 1470 announced plans this afternoon to broadcast the game and the Ohio State athletic department will offer a video stream of the quarterfinal on its website, www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com. The Bradley Sports Information Office will add the WMBD radio broadcast to its audio schedule at www.BUBraves.com. Brian Bedo, a former Charley Steiner Intern in the Bradley Sports Information Office and a current intern for WGN Radio in Chicago, will provide the play-by-play for Sunday's broadcast on WMBD and former Bradley All-American and Major League Soccer player Tim Regan will serve as the radio analyst.
Both teams are making their first appearance in the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship quarterfinals. The Braves began their march to the “Elite Eight” by downing DePaul (2-0) in the first round, then pulled out a 5-4 penalty kick shootout at #6 Indiana in the second round after playing the seven-time national champion to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes. In the third round, Bradley overcame a 2-0 deficit in the final three minutes and rallied for a 3-2, double-overtime win Saturday at 2005 national champion Maryland to earn its place in the quarterfinals.
The winner of Sunday's Bradley-Ohio State game will advance to the 2007 College Cup, which is the college soccer version of the Final Four, in the Raleigh suburb of Cary, N.C. The semifinal games will be played Dec. 14 and the national championship game is set for Dec. 16 at the SAS Soccer Complex.
