Back-to-Back Vs Evansville to Open MVC Championship

Bradley Soccer will open the 2019 MVC Men's Soccer Championship as the No. 3 seed and will face Evansville for a second game in a row to open the tourney

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Soccer 11/12/2019 1:30:00 PM

2019 MVC MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP | FIRST ROUND
(6) Evansville Purple Aces (2-14-1, 0-10-0 MVC)
vs. (3) Bradley Braves (7-6-4, 5-3-2 MVC)
Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019 • 4:00 p.m. • Chicago, IL • Loyola Soccer Park • ESPN+

TOURNEY TIME
• Bradley brings the No. 3 seed into the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship and the Braves will open the tourney against a familiar foe, No. 6 seed Evansville.
• The two teams met in the regular-season finale Saturday at Shea Stadium, where the Braves got two goals from junior forward Gerit Wintermeyer to rally for a 2-1 victory.
• In the first year of The Valley's double round-robin regular-season schedule format, Bradley swept the season series versus the Purple Aces, coupling a 1-0 victory Oct. 13 at Evansville with Saturday's 2-1 home win.
• Of The Valley's six active men's soccer members, Bradley is the only program to win multiple regular-season (4) and postseason tournament (3) championships and the Braves are the only active Valley program to boast more than two MVC Tournament titles.
• Bradley is seeking its fourth MVC Tournament title and the league's automatic bid for its eighth NCAA Tournament appearance.

SEEKING HISTORIC THIRD WIN VS EVANSVILLE
• Wednesday's matchup versus Evansville in the first round of the MVC Men's Soccer Championship presents Bradley its first-ever opportunity to beat the same team three times in a season.
• By sweeping the regular-season series versus Evansville, Bradley now has beaten the same team twice in a season 13 times in program history.
• Bradley also swept Valparaiso during the regular-season, giving the Braves two season sweeps in the same season for the third time (2013 and 2011) in program history.
• Nine of Bradley's previous 11 season sweeps were completed during the MVC Tournament, most recently in 2017 when the Braves followed a 1-0 regular-season win against Drake with a 3-1 victory against the Bulldogs in the first round of the postseason tournament at Shea Stadium.

250TH WIN ON THE LINE
• In addition to the fight to stay alive for The Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, a significant number is on the line for Bradley head coach Jim DeRose Wednesday.
• The second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer history, DeRose enters the MVC Tournament with a 249-190-54 (.560) career record in his 24 years at the helm of the Bradley program, meaning his next victory will be the 250th of his career.
• DeRose's 249 wins since beginning his head-coaching career with the Braves in 1996 represent 83.0 percent of the 300 victories in Bradley Soccer's 33-year NCAA Division I history.
• DeRose also is responsible for 79 of the 82 (96.3 percent) MVC regular-season wins in program history, as well as all 20 MVC Tournament victories, in the 29 years of Missouri Valley Conference sponsorship of men's soccer.

TOURNEY SUCCESS
• Bradley is the only active MVC men's soccer member to boast more than two MVC Tournament titles.  
• The Braves have won the tournament three times: 2007 at Creighton, 2010 at Shea Stadium and 2013 at Shea Stadium.  
• Drake (two) is the only other active Valley men's soccer member to win more than one MVC Tournament championship.
• Bradley enters Wednesday's first-round game against Evansville with a 20-15-7 (.560) all-time record in the MVC Men's Soccer Championship.
• Included in that record, however, is a 4-8-3 (.367) MVC postseason record at neutral sites.  
• Bradley's last neutral-site win in the MVC Tournament was a 1-0 victory against SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the 2011 tournament at Creighton.  

HISTORIC DEFENSIVE EFFORT
• During the 17 regular-season games, Bradley led The Valley by allowing the opposition only a .337 shots-on-goal percentage - of the 196 shots allowed, only 66 have been on target.
• Bradley has never finished a season with an opponent shots-on-goal percentage below .340 (2005).
• Northern Kentucky (10) is the only opponent to muster more than six shots on goal against Bradley and the Braves have limited 12 of their first 17 opponents to no more than four shots on goal.
• The Braves shared the league lead with five shutouts in the 10 Valley games and finished second to Loyola Chicago (0.83) with a 0.85 goals against average in league play.

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Players Mentioned

#9 Gerit Wintermeyer: F; 6' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#9 Gerit Wintermeyer
: 6' 3"; Junior
: F

Back-to-Back Vs Evansville to Open MVC Championship

Bradley Soccer will open the 2019 MVC Men's Soccer Championship as the No. 3 seed and will face Evansville for a second game in a row to open the tourney

Players Mentioned

#9 Gerit Wintermeyer

Players Mentioned

#9 Gerit Wintermeyer