PEORIA, Ill. -- The 2007 Bradley Soccer team will by honored in a pregame tribute and the coaches and players will be available for autographs as part of the third annual Bradley Night with the Chiefs Friday night at O'Brien Field. The Peoria Chiefs will wear Bradley Soccer style jerseys, which will be auctioned via live and silent auctions during the game, for Friday's 6:30 p.m. Midwest League contest at O'Brien Field versus the Fort Wayne Wizards.
Proceeds from Friday night's event will benefit the Danny Dahlquist Memorial Fund at Bradley University. In addition to the special jerseys to be worn by the team, members of the 2007 Bradley Soccer team will be available for autographs before the game and will be introduced to the crowd during a pregame tribute. Head coach Jim DeRose and Bradley University President Joanne Glasser also will throw out ceremonial first pitches.
The 2007 Bradley Soccer season began in tragedy with the Aug. 12 death of redshirt freshman Danny Dahlquist, the eldest son of longtime Bradley University employees Craig and Tricia Dahlquist. The Braves overcame the tragedy on the field and rallied for the most successful season in program history, finishing with a school-record 16 wins, sweeping the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and postseason tournament titles and earning the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament wins en route to the national quarterfinals.
In addition to their success on the field, the Braves today received their second NCAA Public Recognition Award in as many years in honor of their continued success in the classroom. The NCAA annually recognizes those programs that rank among the top 10 percent in their respective sports based on multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores. One of 21 men's soccer programs nationwide to receive the 2008 NCAA Public Recoginition Award, Bradley was one of just seven that also qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament, joining Brown, Colgate, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard and Northwestern. Bradley's NCAA Elite Eight run, however, made the Braves the only one of those programs to advance beyond the second round. For the second consecutive year, Bradley was the only men's soccer representative for the NCAA Public Recognition Award from the Missouri Valley Conference and the Midwest Region.
