EXHibition split
? Bradley finished its two-game exhibtion schedule with a 1-1-0 record, downing Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 4-1, in St. Louis Saturday night.
? Chris Cutshaw scored a goal and later added an assist to lead the offense while Paul Tracy netted the game-winning goal for the Braves.
? The Braves dropped the exhibition opener last week to Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Shea Stadium, 1-0.
? Head coach Jim DeRose used 18 players in both games, including six freshmen.
Headed to memphis
? The Braves will kick off the 22nd season in program history this Friday, travelling to the Memphis Diadora Tournament.
? Bradley will play a pair of Conference USA members, starting with tournament host Memphis Friday, Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a contest Sunday at 3 p.m. against UAB.
? The Braves are 13-6-2 all-time in season openers, including an 11-1-0 mark under head coach Jim DeRose.
AGainst conference usa
? The Braves bring an all-time record of 9-14-6 against current Conference USA members, having played prior matches against Kentucky, Memphis, SMU and Tulsa.
? In those 29 matches, the Braves went 3-5-2 against former MVC rival Tulsa when the Golden Hurricane played in The Valley.
? The Braves posted a 2-3-4 mark against SMU when the Mustangs were a member of the MVC.
The braves versus memphis
Date Location Result
9-9-89 Notre Dame H.S. T, 1-1
10-6-90 at Memphis W, 2-0
OPENING ON THE ROAD
? When the Braves travel to Memphis this Friday, it will mark just the fifth time in program history the Braves started a season away from central Illinois.
? The last time the Braves began the season away from home was Sept. 4, 1993, dropping a 5-3 decision to Rockhurst at the Drake Tournament.
? Bradley is 2-2-0 all-time in road openers.
DVK The man in net
? Third-year sophomore Drew Van Kampen started and played the full 90 minutes in both exhibition matches, stopping seven of the nine shots on goal he faced.
? Van Kampen enters the season as the only returning goalkeeper, registering 17-minutes and 32-seconds of playing time as a redshirt freshman last season.
Defending valley champs
? After sharing the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship with rival Creighton, the Bradley soccer team has won a share of three straight Valley title.
? The Braves will try to become the second team in league history to win at least a share of four consecutive regular-season Valley titles.
Three Straight Valley Titles
Creighton 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Bradley 2005, 2006*, 2007*
SMU 2000, 2001, 2002
* Shared regular-season league title
PRESEASON RANKING
? Bradley will begin the season tied for 21st in the NSCAA/adidas national rankings.
? The National Soccer Coaches Association of America released its preseason top 25 poll Aug. 19 and the Braves were tied with UC Santa Barbara for 21st with 41 points.
? Bradley finished 10th in the final NSCAA/adidas poll of the 2007 season.
? Four of the final five teams Bradley played last season are jumbled together in the top 10: Creighton (6), Indiana (7), Maryland (8) and Ohio State (9).
Lucky 13?
? Jim DeRose is beginning his 13th year at the helm of the Bradley Soccer program and enters the season with a 143-85-25 (.615) career record.
? The 2007 Soccer America national coach of the year, DeRose now boasts 73.7 percent of the program's 194 all-time wins in 21 seasons from 1987-2007.
Heavy Losses
? Although the Braves do return six starters from last season's 16-6-4 squad, Bradley lost 12 lettermen.
? Among the 12 departures were five players that earned All-MVC honors, including Bradley's first-ever MVC Player of the Year, All-American sweeper Joe Donoho.
? Fifth-year defender Brad Snook is the only senior on the roster.
? Last season, the Braves fielded a roster with nine seniors.
Freshmen contributions
? In Saturday's win in St. Louis, freshmen Bobby Smith and Keith Mach scored goals for the Braves.
? Christian Meza stripped the goalkeeper to help set up Mach's goal.
? Smith was joined by Bryan Gaul in the starting lineup against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
? This season, the Bradley roster features a total of nine newcomers, including seven true freshmen.
