Bradley Soccer will begin competition in its seventh NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship when the Braves (13-6-2) visit Northwestern (10-7-2) in a first-round game Thursday night at Lakeside Field. The game will be a rematch of Bradley's 3-2, overtime victory Oct. 2, when the host Wildcats were ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation.
| 1st Round |
2013 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship |
| Matchup |
Bradley (13-6-2) at Northwestern (10-7-2) |
| Date |
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 |
| Time |
7:00 p.m. |
| Location |
Evanston, Ill. | Lakeside Field |
| Tickets |
$8 adults; $5 Youth/Senior/Bradley students; $1 Infants |
| Video Stream |
CBSSports.com ULive |
| Live Stats |
GameTracker |
| Tourney Updates |
NCAA Championship Scoreboard |
| Twitter |
@BradleySIDLive #NCAASoccer |
2013 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship
• Bradley will play its fourth consecutive rematch game Thursday when the Braves visit Northwestern in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.
• After winning three games last week in the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship, Bradley earned the league's automatic bid for its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance.
• The Braves are making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in four years, making seniors Brian Billings, Jason Coon, Alexei Davies-Campbell, Scott Davis, Chris Olivera, Ross Williams and Wojciech Wojcik the first Bradley Soccer players to be make three NCAA Tournament appearances in their careers.
• Bradley rolls into the NCAA Tournament on a season-long, 5-game winning streak, its longest unbeaten streak since a similar 5-game win streak from Oct. 26-Nov. 9, 2011.
• Bradley is 2-4-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament first-round games, including 0-1-0 in first-round road games.
• Thursday's Bradley-Northwestern winner will advance to a second-round game at the tournament's No. 4 overall seed, California (12-4-2), 3:30 p.m. CT Sunday at Edwards Stadium.
Series History Against Northwestern
• Bradley is 5-1-0 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 3-2, overtime win against then third-ranked Northwestern Oct. 2 at Lakeside Field.
• Bradley is 2-0-0 all-time at Northwestern, winning the first and last games in the series history, both in overtime, in Evanston.
• In Bradley's first visit to Lakeside Field, the Braves started the series against Northwestern with a 4-1, double-overtime victory Oct. 27, 1996.
• In the days when overtime was not a sudden-victory decision, Jim Rasmussen registered a second overtime hat trick by scoring all three Bradley goals in the extra time of the 1996 matchup.
• In Bradley's 3-2 win Oct. 2 at Lakeside Field, freshman forward Christian Okeke scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner in the 98th minute after the Wildcats forced overtime by rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the final 15 minute of regulation.
