ST. LOUIS - With 21 returning lettermen from its 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship squad, the Bradley men's soccer team has been picked second in the 2011 MVC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll, released today by the league office.
In addition to the preseason poll, The Valley announced its preseason all-conference team, which includes Bradley senior forward Bryan Gaul (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley H.S.). The 6-foot-5 striker shared the league lead with 12 goals during the 2010 regular-season, despite playing the first half of the year in a defensive position. His midseason move to forward sparked a personal 7-game point-scoring streak and was the catalyst behind the team's surge to the MVC Tournament title and fifth NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000.
2011 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Preview
With six players on the 11-man preseason all-conference team, Creighton was the top choice of the coaches to win the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference title, as the Bluejays collected six of the seven first-place votes and 48 poll points. Bradley was second with 34 points, followed closely by Missouri State, which counted the seventh first-place vote among its 33 points. Drake (30 points) finished fourth in the voting, followed by SIU Edwardsville (26), Evansville (15) and Central Arkansas (10).
Bradley knocked off a nationally-ranked Creighton squad twice in a span of seven days last season, 2-1 in the regular-season finale Nov. 6 at Creighton and 3-2 in the MVC Tournament semifinals Nov. 12 at Shea Stadium. The Bluejays will visit Shea Stadium again Oct. 19, then will host the 2011 State Farm MVC Tournament Nov. 9-13.
The 2011 Braves will face outside competition for the first time Thursday when Bradley visits Atlantic 10 Conference member Dayton for a noon exhibition game. The Braves will open the regular-season with a 2-game swing through Indiana next weekend: Aug. 26 at defending Horizon League champion Butler and Aug. 28 at IPFW. The regular-season home opener will be Sept. 1 when Bradley hosts former Valley rival Eastern Illinois in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Shea Stadium.
