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Bradley Opens 28th Season
•  Bradley opens its 28th NCAA Division I men's soccer season this weekend by hosting San José State, UNLV and Western Illinois in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic.
•  The Braves begin the season with a 256-250-50 (.505) all-time record and for the first time in program history, Bradley starts the year with a winning all-time record.
•  Bradley returns 13 lettermen, including five starters from last year's squad that went 14-7-2 overall, finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season with a 3-2-1 league record, won the MVC tournament title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
•  The Braves lost 12 lettermen, however, among them six starters that included the 2013 MVC Player of the Year (Wojciech Wojcik) and a four-year starter in goal (Brian Billings).

Season-Opening History
•  Bradley has won its last 12 season-openers since a 4-3 loss to Valparaiso Aug. 31, 2001 in the Holiday Inn City Centre Classic at McClallen Park in Morton.
•  During the 12-game, season-opening win streak, the Braves have posted seven shutouts and not once yielded more than one goal.
•  Overall, Bradley is 19-6-2 (.741) in season-opening games, including a 13-4-2 (.737) record in season-openers played at home.

Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic
•  Bradley opens its 28th NCAA Division I season Friday by playing the second game of the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic.
•  Friday's game will be preceded at 4:30 p.m. by the touranment opener - Western Illinois vs. UNLV.
•  Bradley is 6-3-1 all-time in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic and the Braves will be trying to extend a 5-game tourney unbeaten streak (4-0-1).

Shea Stadium
•  Shea Stadium begins its 12th season as Bradley Soccer's home field, since the former Pete Vonachen Stadium at Meinen Field was converted from a minor league baseball facility in 2003.
•  The Braves open the 2014 campaign with a 75-35-11 (.665) all-time record at Shea Stadium.
•  Bradley has won three straight on its home field and will be looking for a fourth straight home win since a 5-game run from Sept. 2-17, 2012.

Series Notes
San José State leads 1-0-0 | Home 0-0-0 | Away 0-1-0 | Neutral 0-0-0 | Last: SJSU 3-2 (Sept. 21, 2012)
•  San José State won the only previous men's soccer meeting between the two schools, grabbing a 3-2 decision Sept. 21, 2012 at Spartan Stadium.
•  While nine Braves who played in that game remain on Bradley's roster two years later, only two Spartans who played against Bradley remain at San Jose Staté: senior MF Frankie Beauchamp assisted SJSU's first goal and senior MF Enrique Montano also started.
•  Bradley is 9-5-1 all-time against the current Western Athletic Conference membership, including a split last season in road games at Air Force (W 2-0) and at UNLV (L 4-1).
•  Bradley's records versus current WAC members: Air Force (1-1-0), Houston Baptist (1-0-0), San José State (0-1-0), UMKC (7-2-1), UNLV (0-1-0).

Preseason Prognostication
•  Desite the graduation of 10 seniors, Bradley was picked to repeat its third-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference race, according to a preseason poll of the league's seven head coaches.
•  Sophomore forward Christian Okeke is Bradley's lone representative on the preseason All-MVC squad.
•  Bradley's top returning scorer, Okeke tied for second on Bradley's 2013 squad with six goals and four assists.

Preseason Battles of Champions
•  Bradley finished its 2-game preseason schedule undefeated, 1-0-1, despite facing off against two championship-caliber programs.
•  The defending Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champion first played defending national champion #1 Notre Dame to a 2-2 draw Aug. 19 at Shea Stadium.
•  The Braves followed with a 3-1 win Sunday at defending Horizon League regular-season champion Illinois-Chicago.
•  Bradley allowed first-half goals in both games, but rallied for the results by scoring all five of its preseason goals in the final 17 minutes of the two exhibitions.

New Keeper
•  After the graduation of 4-year starter Brian Billings, Bradley will have a new keeper between the pipes in 2014.
•  Billings was a 3-time All-MVC and NSCAA All-Midwest Region performer who ranks second in Bradley history with 44 career wins, 22.0 shutouts and 7561 career minutes.
•  Fourth-year junior Shay Niemeyer is the more experienced of the two Bradley keepers on the roster, logging 185 scoreless minutes in three career games.
•  Third-year sophomore Logan Ketterer has yet to appear in a regular-season game for the Braves.
•  Niemeyer started both preseason games, allowing all three goals (2.00 GAA) in 135 minutes.
•  Ketterer made his preseason debut to start the second half Sunday at UIC and earned the win by stopping five shots in 45 scoreless minutes.

Looking Ahead
•  Bradley will take on another WAC member, UNLV, in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic finale, a 2:30 p.m. match Sunday at Shea Stadium.
•  UNLV won the only previous meeting between the two teams, a 4-1 decision Sept. 6, 2013 in the opening day of UNLV's Nike Invitational.
•  Following the weekend tournament, Bradley will wrap up its 3-game season-opening home stand by hosting Big East Conference member Xavier Thursday night for President's Night Out at Shea Stadium.