QUICK OVERVIEW
The No. 2 seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship, Bradley will begin its quest for a fourth tournament title when the Braves take on No. 3 seed Drake in Friday's first semifinal game, a 3 p.m. kickoff at SIU Edwardsville's Ralph Korte Stadium ... The Braves are tops among The Valley's seven current members with 19 all-time MVC Tournament wins and Bradley's three MVC Tournament titles (2007, 2010, 2013) are just one shy of the combined total of the other six current Valley members - Drake (2009), Evansville (1996), Missouri State (1999) and SIUE (2014).

Bradley Pre-Game Notes Packet (PDF) | Tournament Central

SERIES HISTORY
38th Meeting | Drake leads 17-15-5 | Bradley leads 6-0-1 in the MVC Tournament
Friday's MVC Tournament semifinal between Bradley and Drake will be the 38th meeting in the all-time series between the two programs, but it will be the first-ever matchup between the two teams on a neutral field ... Although Drake owns a 17-15-5 lead in the all-time series, Bradley is 6-0-1 all-time against the Bulldogs in the postseason ... The teams have split the last seven meetings (3-3-1), including a 1-1 draw in the regular-season final Nov. 7 in Des Moines ... In his 20th year as head coach at Bradley, Jim DeRose owns a 14-11-3 record against the Bulldogs, while first-year Drake head coach Gareth Smith is 0-0-1 against DeRose and the Braves.

RECAPPING THE REGULAR-SEASON MEETING
Nov. 7, 2015: Bradley 1, at Drake 1 (2OT)
Senior defender Andrew Brown finished off a throw-in sequence with a header in the 89th minute, keeping Bradley's MVC regular-season title hopes alive in the regular-season finale at Drake Nov. 7 ... Brown's first goal of the year pulled the Braves into a 1-1 tie with just 1-minute, 17-seconds left in regulation at Drake ... As would be expected in a game that ended in a tie, Bradley held a slim 14-12 lead in shots, but both teams finished with eight shots on goal, seven saves and 15 fouls.

BRADLEY MVC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Bradley is making its 19th appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship ... The leader among The Valley's seven current members, Bradley (19-13-6) ranks second in all-time tournament history with 19 wins ... Of the 14 teams who have competed in the 24 previous MVC Tournaments, Bradley is one of just four teams - Creighton (33-8-1), SMU (9-2-2) and SIUE (5-3-1) - to boast a winning all-time tourney record ... The Braves are responsible for six of Creighton's (3), SMU's (2) and SIUE's (1) 13 combined tournament losses, as well as three of the four ties by the trio ... Bradley owns three MVC Tournament titles - 2007, 2010 and 2013 - and the Braves have advanced to the championship game nine times in the last 16 years.

AS THE NO. 2 SEED
The No. 2 seed for this week's MVC Men's Soccer Championship is Bradley's best seed since 2007, when the Braves rode the top seed to its first postseason league title ... Since The Valley adopted its current 6-team tournament format in 2005, Bradley has earned a bye to the semifinals as a top-2 seed four times ... The Braves have advanced to the championship game in each of its three previous years as a first or second seed (2005, 2006, 2007).

ROAD RESULTS
Bradley opens the postseason with a neutral-site game versus third-seeded Drake ... Bradley finished second in the final Valley table by enjoying success away from home in league play ... Including a 1-1 draw Nov. 7 at Drake, Bradley was 2-0-1 in its three Valley road games this season ... Bradley earned points in three Valley road games for the first time since 2007 (1-0-2) and its seven points won in three league road games are the most by the Braves since 2006 (also 2-0-1).

DIDN'T WE JUST SEE YOU
Bradley is opening MVC Tournament play against the same team it faced in the regular-season finale and the two teams have unfinished business ... Bradley and Drake both entered the regular-season finale Nov. 7 in Des Moines with the opportunity to win at least a share of the MVC regular-season title ... Both teams lost out on their title shot by playing to a 1-1 draw while SIUE overcame a late penalty kick attempt from Loyola en route to an overtime win against the Ramblers to claim the outright championship ... Bradley is playing consecutive games against the same opponent for the third time in four years ... The Braves are 1-1-0 in their previous two back-end games: losing to Central Arkansas (1-0) after a 1-1 draw in the 2012 regular-season finale and beating Evansville (3-2 in OT) after a 2-1 overtime win at Evansville in the 2013 regular-season finale.

TOUGH START, TOUGH FINISH
Bradley's pre-conference schedule proved to be just the challenge the Braves needed heading into the Valley race ... The three teams the Braves played before opening conference play had combined for a 17-5-0 record through Sept. 24 before Bradley began its conference schedule with 1-0 win against Loyola to kickstart the program's first-ever 4-0-0 MVC start ... Those three teams - Utah Valley (13-5-1), UNLV (11-6-1) and Omaha (9-5-3) - have combined for a 33-16-5 (.657) record through Nov. 11 ... Similarly, Bradley's final three regular-season opponents - SIUE (12-3-1), Western Michigan (11-3-4) and Drake (10-4-3) have combined for a 33-10-8 (.725) record.

TARGET PRACTICE
Bradley's final third-of-the-season surge in scoring production has been directly tied to an improvement in shooting accuracy ... During a 4-7 start, Bradley managed just eight goals in the first 11 games while averaging 11.0 shots per game ... Of Bradley's 121 shots in the season's first 11 games, the Braves put only 46 on goal, an average of just 38.0 percent of shots on target ... The Braves have scored 14 goals while posting a 3-2-1 record in the last six games ... Although Bradley's shot totals are down to just 9.0 per game in the last six games, the Braves have placed 31 of their 54 (.574) shots on target ... Bradley found the back of the net on 14 of those 31 (.452) shots on goal, while two more beat the keeper, but were saved off the line by field players.

RINGING THE BELL
Senior forward Grant Bell earned his 10th assist of the season when he headed a long throw to Andrew Brown for the tying goal in the 89th minute Saturday at Drake ... Bell has become the 10th player in program history to reach double-digits in the assists column in a single season ... His 10 assists currently lead The Valley and are the most by a Brave since Wojciech Wojcik set the school record with 14 assists in 2013 ... A defender during his first three seasons on The Hilltop, Bell also ranks sixth in school history with 19 career assists.