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QUICK OVERVIEW
After going 0-3 during its season-long, 3-game road swing, Bradley returns to Shea Stadium for its next three games, beginning with this weekend's The Hotels at Grand Prairie Soccer Series ... The weekend showcase begins with Bradley's Missouri Valley Conference opener against Loyola Chicago in the annual Homecoming game Friday night ... The weekend schedule concludes with a non-conference clash against Air Force Sunday afternoon ... While Bradley is trying to shakeoff a 3-game losing streak, the Braves also will be trying to extend a 3-game home winning streak built on identical 1-0 scores.
Bradley Pregame Notes Packet (PDF) | Loyola Notes Packet (PDF) | Air Force Notes Packet (PDF)
POSTGAME FIRWEORKS FRIDAY
Among the numerous promotions for Friday's Bradley University Homecoming game versus Loyola, Avanti's is sponsoring a postgame fireworks show ... Pregame tailgating with KISS-FM begins at 5 p.m. and tailgate spaces may be reserved in advance by contacting Jack Craig at jcraig2@bradley.edu ... The first 50 Shea Brigade members to report to the Headquarters will receive free Papa John's pizza, courtesy of KISS-FM, while the first 50 individuals to register for the Shea Brigade soccer fan club will receive a coupon for a free Papa John's pizza, also courtesy of KISS-FM ... The first 1,000 fans will receive free Thundersticks.
SERIES HISTORY
Loyola Chicago | Bradley leads 12-4-0 | Last: Loyola 2-1 (OT), Sept. 27, 2014 at Loyola
Friday's game against Loyola Chicago will be the 13th meeting in the all-time series between in-state rivals Bradley and the Ramblers, but just the third as Missouri Valley Conference foes since Loyola joined The Valley in 2013 ... Bradley owns a 12-4-0 lead in the all-time series, but the teams have split their first two Valley matchups and Loyola will be shooting for its first-ever series winning streak Friday night ... In his 20th year as Bradley head coach, Jim DeRose is 8-2-0 all-time against Loyola and his first-ever true road victory with the Braves was a 4-2 win in two overtimes at Loyola Sept. 27, 1996.
Air Force | Tied 1-1-0 | Last: Bradley 2-0, Sept. 22, 2013 at Air Force
Sunday's finale in The Hotels at Grand Prairie Soccer Series will be the third all-time meeting between Bradley and Air Force ... Bradley pulled even in the series (tied 1-1) by earning a 2-0 victory Sept. 22, 2013 in Colorado Springs ... Sunday's game will be the first series meeting in Peoria ... Air Force took the first matchup, 4-0, during the second round of a tournament at New Mexico Sept. 11, 1994 ... Sunday's game will be Air Force's third against a Valley member this season, as well as Bradley's fourth against a Western Athletic Conference program.
HOME VERSUS ROAD
Bradley enters Friday's game versus Loyola with drastically different results in home games versus road games this season ... The Braves are 3-0 at home and have yet to allow their opponents to score at Shea Stadium ... Bradley is 0-4 away from home, where they have surrendered 13 goals and no fewer than two goals in any of the four games ... Bradley's four away opponents, however, are a combined 21-8-1 (.717) through Wednesday's action ... Similarly, while Loyola is 3-0-1 in home and neutral-site games this season, the Ramblers are 0-2-1 in true road games this season and winless (0-8-4) in their last 12 true road games dating to a 1-0 win at SIU Edwardsville Oct. 26, 2013.
HOME SHUTOUT STREAK
Bradley has opened the 2015 home schedule by recording three straight 1-0 victories for the first time in the program's 29-year history ...The current 3-game home shutout streak equals the third-longest in program history for complete games played without allowing a goal, but it is the 10th-longest in terms of the game time elapsed between goals allowed.
Bradley Home Shutout Streaks (Games)
Rk. Gms Dates
1. 5 Aug. 31-Oct. 1, 1997
2. 4 Oct. 16-Nov. 8, 1998
3. 3 Aug. 30-Active
3 Oct. 15-23, 2013
3 Sept. 10-18, 2014
Bradley Home Shutout Streaks (Time)
Rk. Time Games Dates
1. 518:23 5+ games 11/10/1996-10/4/1997
2. 471:46 4+ games 9/25/1998-9/1/1999
3. 344:50 2+ games 10/11-10/20/2014
4. 339:15 3+ games 10/7-11/2/2013
5. 333:24 2+ games 10/12-10/29/2005
6. 320:35 2+ games 9/20-10/5/2003
7. 308:45 2+ games 11/7/2012-9/28/2013
8. 295:11 3+ games 9/4-10/3/2004
9. 286:41 2+ games 10/17-10-30/1992
10. 275:50 3+ games 11/14/2014-Present
COMMON OPPONENTS
In addition to the five other Missouri Valley Conference rivals still to be played this season, Bradley and Loyola share four common non-conference opponents:
DePaul: at Bradley (BU 1-0); at Loyola (Sept. 29)
Marquette: EX vs. BU (T 3-3); EX vs. LUC (LUC 1-0)
Milwaukee: at BU (BU 1-0); EXH vs. Loyola (T 1-1)
UIC: vs. Bradley (UIC 2-0); vs. Loyola (Oct. 13)
ANSWERING THE BELL
Senior defender Andrew Brown missed his first career game Saturday at Omaha, meaning senior forward Grant Bell is the only team member who has appeared in all 70 games the Braves have played since the start of the 2012 season ... Bell has been a starter in 62 of Bradley's 70 games the last four seasons.
INEXPERIENCED LINEUP
While senior forward Grant Bell has appeared in all 70 games the Braves have played since the start of the 2012 season, while logging 5773 career minutes, he is in his first year as a forward after transitioning from the back line ... Bell took the field Saturday at Omaha with an inexperienced group of teammates ... The other 12 field players to join Bell on the field Saturday entered the game combining for 119 career games played and 9866 career minutes played ... Those 12 players averaged 9.9 career games played and 822 career minutes.
WITHOUT DEROSE
Bradley will be without head coach Jim DeRose Friday night versus Loyola as he serves a 1-game NCAA suspension for his red card ejection from last Saturday's game at Omaha ... Friday's game versus Loyola will be the fourth missed by DeRose in his 20 years as head coach: two due to a pair of red card violations in 2006 and one due to a death in the family ... The Braves are 1-1-1 in the previous three games with DeRose missing from the sidelines:
Date, Opponent Result Asst. Coach
Sept. 8, 2006 vs. Northwestern L, 0-2 Brad Ruzzoe
Oct. 4, 2006 at Drake (2ot) T, 1-1 Brad Ruzzo
Sept. 9, 2012 vs. Portland W, 4-1 Brian Barnett
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