NON-CONFERENCE FOE VISITS SHEA
? The Bradley soccer team will play its final home game of the 2008 regular season Tuesday night, hosting Horizon League member Butler at 7 p.m. at Shea Stadium.
? The Braves enter Tuesday's contest with a 6-8-1 record, dropping their last three matches.
? Butler is 11-2-3 on the season, including a 4-0-2 Horizon League record.
? Bradley is 5-5-1 this season against non-conference opponents, but is just 1-3-1 in those games at Shea Stadium.
? In games against Horizon League teams this season, the Braves have gone 0-2-0 with losses to Valparaiso (1-0 on Sept. 12) and Loyola (3-0 on Oct. 11).
? The Braves are 6-5-1 in non-conference games played in the month of October dating back to 2005.
? Bradley alum Brian Bedo will call the action live on WIRL-AM 1290, the fourth WIRL broadcast of the 2008 season.
The Series
? Tuesday's match is just the fourth all-time between Bradley and Butler, a series the Bulldogs lead 2-1-0.
? On Sept. 3, 2005, Butler netted a 1-0 victory over the Braves at Shea Stadium.
? Bradley's lone victory in the series came Oct. 15, 1989, a 1-0 win at Peoria Notre Dame High School.
? The next year, Butler used a pair of overtime goals to defeat the Braves, 2-0, on Sept. 14, 1990 in Indianapolis.
BRAVES DROP LEAGUE MATCH
? Missouri Valley Conference rival Missouri State used a pair of second half goals to defeat Bradley, 2-0, last Saturday night at Shea Stadium.
? The Braves took 17 shots in the contest, second-most in a match this season.
? The defeat extended Bradley's losing streak to three games, the longest streak for the Braves since a four-game skid since in 2006.
AGAINST THE HORIZON LEAGUE
? The Braves will meet a member of the Horizon League for the third time this season when they host Butler Tuesday night.
? Bradley is 26-24-1 all-time against current Horizon League members, playing previous matches against eight teams in the nine-team soccer league.
? Of those previous 51 matches, only five have been played at Shea Stadium, where the Braves are 1-3-1 against the Horizon League.
? Bradley dropped a 1-0 decision to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in an exhibition game Aug. 18, a match played with three 30-minute periods.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
? Butler enters Tuesday's match with an 11-2-3 record, including a 7-2-1 non-conference mark.
? The Bulldogs have outscored opponents 29-12 this season and are in the midst of a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1).
? Last Friday, Butler played a scoreless tie against Horizon League for Loyola.
? Senior Frank Patano leads the Bulldogs in scoring this season, logging 21 points (9 G, 3 A) in 16 starts this season.
? Seven different players have scored multiple goals this season for Butler, while 14 players have registered points.
? Butler has used two goalkeepers this season in juniors Nick Hegeman and Fabian Knopfler.
? Hegeman has made 12 starts, recording eight of Butler's 11 victories this season with a 0.71 goals against average and a save percentage of .809.
? Knopfler is 3-1-0 in his four starts with a 0.75 goals against average, making nine saves.
? Butler's two losses came Sept. 7 at MVC member Evansville (3-2) and Oct. 7 against Indiana (2-0).
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 149-93-26 (.604) 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.
