ST. LOUIS - The latest preseason honor for Bradley soccer player Bryan Gaul (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley H.S.) may be the most significant to date: the senior forward Tuesday was announced as one of 42 players on the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List.
The MAC Hermann Trophy is the highest individual award in intercollegiate soccer and the recipients are selected by head coaches of NCAA Division I programs who are members of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Voting for the MAC Hermann Trophy is conducted in late November, when a field of 15 semifinalists is reduced to three finalists. Those three will be invited to the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis on Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, where a news conference will be held to announce the winner, followed by a banquet to honor the three finalists.
In the last week, Gaul also has been voted preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference by the league's seven head coaches and tabbed a third-team preseason All-American by CollegeSoccerNews.com. On the field, he contributed to all three scores in Bradley's Red-White intrasquad scrimmage Sunday night with two goals and an assist.
Bradley's active leader with 20 career goals and 49 career points, Gaul has been an all-conference honoree at two different positions the last two seasons. He shared the league lead with 12 goals during the regular-season and earned first-team All-MVC honors as a forward in 2010, despite playing the first half of the year in a defensive position, where he was an honorable mention all-conference selection in 2009. His midseason move to forward sparked a personal 7-game point-scoring streak and was the catalyst behind the team's surge to the 2010 MVC Tournament title and fifth NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000.
Gaul and his Bradley teammates 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.
