Game #14
Bradley at Drake
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008 ? 7 p.m.
Des Moines, Iowa
Cownie Soccer Complex (1,000)
conference road trip
? The Bradley soccer team will visit Missouri Valley Conference rival Drake, Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines, Iowa.
? Wednesday's match is one of two MVC road regular season road games this season for the Braves, and just the second road game since Sept. 20.
? The Braves are currently in a third place tie in The Valley with Missouri State with a 1-1-0 mark.
? The host Bulldogs enter Wednesday's match as the MVC co-leader, tied for first place in the league with Creighton after a 2-0-0 start in MVC games.
? Drake is 10-3-0 through its first 13 games, while the Braves are 6-6-1.
? Drake will host its annual Senior Night on Wednesday, honoring the four seniors on the roster.
The Series
? The Bulldogs won the first five games in the series that dates back to 1987, but the Braves own a 12-10-4 advantage all-time.
? The Braves will put their eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) against Drake on the line dating back to a 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs on Nov. 7, 2003.
? Drake is 5-4-1 against the Braves in games played in Des Moines, while the Braves have not won at Drake since a 2-1 victory on Nov. 8, 2002.
? In last season's meeting, the Braves used a 54th minute goal from Drew DeGurian for a 1-0 win Oct. 27, 2007 at Shea Stadium, Drake's first league loss of the season.
? Drake is the only team the Braves have played in each of Bradley's 23 soccer seasons.
BRAVES FALL TO CREIGHTON
? Just three days after opening the Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a 3-1 win over Eastern Illinois, Bradley fell to .500 (1-1-0) in league play after a 1-0 loss to Creighton Saturday night at Shea Stadium.
? Peoria native Nick O'Neill scored his first-career goal late in the first half to give the Bluejays an early lead before Andrei Gotsmanov provided an insurance goal late in the second half.
? The defeat ended Bradley's school-record 10-game unbeaten streak in Valley regular season games.
? The crowd of 1,125 was the second-largest home crowd of the season at Shea Stadium and the 33rd crown of 1,000 or more in the history of the facility.
LEAGUE NUMBERS
? Bradley junior forward Chris Cutshaw is tied for third among MVC scoring leaders in league games with four points after recording two goals in Wednesday's win over Eastern Illinois.
? Cutshaw's pair of goals puts him in second place in goals scored in conference play behind Creighton's Andrei Gotsmanov (3).
? Four players recorded multiple assists through the first two conference games, leaving Paul Tracy and Justin Bigelow in a fifth-place tie among Valley assist leaders with one assist each.
? Sophomore goalkeeper Drew Van Kampen made five saves during the two-game stretch, third-most in the league behind Evansville's Alec Dufty (10) and Alex Riggs of Missouri State (7).
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
? Drake enters Wednesday's match with a 10-3-0 record but has lost two of its previous four games.
? The Bulldogs started the season 6-0-0 before a 2-0 loss to #6 California on Sept. 19.
? During the six-game winning streak, the Bulldogs did not allow a goal, posting six shutouts while outscoring opponents 11-0 and were ranked as high as 19th nationally
? Since the winning streak, the Bulldogs have gone 4-3-0 with zero shutouts, outscoring opponents 14-13.
? Junior forward Garrett Webb leads Drake in scoring, tallying 13 points (4 G, 5 A) through 13 games.
? The Bulldogs lead The Valley in shots (197) and goals per game (1.92).
? Drake has scored a league-high six goals in conference play, defeating Missouri State (3-2) and Eastern Illinois (3-1) to start the five-game slate.
? Sean Holmes is in his 11th season as head coach of the Bulldogs, posting a record of 84-93-21 (.477).
HEAD COACH JIM DeROSE
? Jim DeRose (Johnson State ?89) is in his 13th season as a head coach, all at Bradley, and was the 2007 Soccer America National Coach of the Year.
? DeRose and his staff have been named the Missouri Valley Conference Coaching Staff of the Year in each of the last two seasons.
? After serving as an assistant coach at former MVC member Illinois State from 1992 through 1994 and one year as an assistant at Richmond, the then 27-year-old DeRose took over a struggling Bradley program in 1996 and has turned the Braves into a consistent winner.
? DeRose enters Wednesday with a 149-91-26 (.609) career record, needing one more victory to become the third coach in Missouri Valley Conference history to win 150 games.
? His 149 wins represent 74.5 percent of Bradley's 200 victories in the 21-year history of the program.
