PEORIA, Ill. - Preseason accolades continue to fall on Bradley senior forward Bryan Gaul (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley H.S.), who today was named a third-team preseason All-American by CollegeSoccerNews.com.
CollegeSoccerNews.com 2001 Preseason All-America Teams
Gaul, who also was named one of the top 100 professional prospects among college seniors earlier this week by TopDrawerSoccer.com, begins the season as Bradley's active leader with 20 career goals and 49 career points, despite playing in a defensive position for most of his college career.
The versatile, 6-foot-5 player moved from Bradley's back line to forward midway through the 2010 season and the switch resulted in a personal 7-game point-scoring streak that was the catalyst for the team's surge toward the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Though he played only half the season as a forward, Gaul shared The Valley's goal-scoring lead during the regular season, finishing with 12 tallies on the year.
Gaul is one of 21 returning lettermen for the Braves, equaling the largest number of returning lettermen in Bradley history. The Braves opened preseason training camp Wednesday and will make their public debut Sunday when they host the annual Red-White Scrimmage Sunday night at McClallen Park in Morton. The intrasquad scrimmage will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be free to the public.
Bradley will visit Dayton Thursday in a preseason exhibition, before opening the 2011 regular season with a two-game road swing to Butler (Aug. 26) and IPFW (Aug. 28). The Braves will host former Valley rival Eastern Illinois in their regular-season home opener Sept. 1 at Shea Stadium.
