Bradley Soccer to Take on MVC Tourney Host

No. 3 seed Bradley and No. 2 seed Loyola Chicago will meet for a third time this season in the semis of the MVC Men's Soccer Championship

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Soccer 11/14/2019 3:28:00 PM

2019 MVC MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP | SEMIFINAL #2
(3) Bradley Braves (8-6-4, 5-3-2 MVC)
at (2) Loyola Chicago Ramblers (10-4-3, 5-2-3 MVC)
Friday, Nov. 15, 2019 • 4:00 p.m. • Chicago, IL • Loyola Soccer Park • ESPN+

VALLEY TOURNEY SEMIFINAL
• The No. 3 seed for the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship, Bradley advanced to the semifinals by handling Evansville, 2-0, for the third time this season in Wednesday's quarterfinal action.
• The Braves will face tournament host and No. 2 seed, Loyola Chicago, in Friday's second semifinal game.
• While Bradley is coming off a 3-game season sweep against Evansville, the Braves and Ramblers decided nothing during the regular-season series, playing 220 minutes of scoreless soccer in the two regular-season 0-0 draws.
• Bradley is seeking to advance to the MVC Tournament title game for a 10th time and the first time since winning its third championship in 2013 at Shea Stadium.
• 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.

FIRST MVC POSTSEASON MEETING
• Bradley and Loyola Chicago are meeting in the Missouri Valley Conference postseason for the first time since the Ramblers joined the league in 2013, but Friday's MVC Tournament semifinal will not be their first postseason matchup.
• Bradley hosted then Horizon League member Loyola Chicago in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament at Shea Stadium, where the Braves earned a 2-1 victory.

250TH WIN FOR DEROSE
• The second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer history, Bradley head coach Jim DeRose earned his 250th career win Wednesday night against Evansville.
• In his 24th year at the helm of the Bradley program, DeRose enters Friday's matchup against Loyola Chicago with a 250-190-54 (.561) career record.
• DeRose's 250 career wins since he took over the Braves in 1996 represent 83.1 percent of the 301 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 21 MVC Tournament victories, in the 29 years of Missouri Valley Conference sponsorship of men's soccer.

220 MINUTES OF SCORELESS ACTION
• Bradley and Loyola Chicago played a pair of scoreless draws during the two regular-season meetings this season.
• Since the Ramblers earned an overtime victory in their lone matchup of 2018, the teams enter Friday's semifinal game having played 220 consecutive minutes of scoreless soccer against one another.
• The Sept. 25 meeting at Loyola Soccer Park, however, did not come without significant chances for the Ramblers: Loyola Chicago outshot Bradley, 25-9, and set the Bradley opponent single-game record by earning 19 corner kicks.
• As has been Bradley's defensive key all season, Loyola Chicago managed to direct only five of its 25 shots on target and the Braves actually saw their all-time record move to 3-0-1 in games in which they surrendered at least 14 corners.
• The teams combined to allow only two shots on goal over the final 60 minutes during the rematch Oct. 23 at Shea Stadium.

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 Friday's semifinal game at Loyola Chicago with a 21-15-7 (.570) all-time record in the MVC Men's Soccer Championship.
• Bradley is 3-2-1 (.583) all-time in MVC Tournament road games.
• Bradley's last outright road win in the MVC tournament was a 1-0 victory at No. 7 Creighton in the 2007 championship game at Morrison Stadium (the Braves also advanced in a PK shootout after tying host Evansville in the first round of the 2008 tournament at Arad McCutcheon Stadium).

HISTORIC DEFENSIVE EFFORT
• Through Wednesday's quarterfinal action, Bradley continues to lead The Valley by allowing the opposition only a .343 shots-on-goal percentage - of the 207 shots allowed, only 71 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 18 opponents to no more than four shots on goal.
• After Wednesday's 2-0 win against Evansville, Bradley now leads The Valley with eight shutouts this season, though the Braves rank third with a 1.05 goals against average (second at 0.83 if you excluded the 5-0 loss Nov. 1 at Northern Kentucky.

LIGHTNING STRIKES CHANGE SEASON DIRECTION
• On Sept. 29, Bradley was sitting on a 1-3-3 record and suffering from a 5-game winless streak (0-3-2) as they hosted Missouri Valley Conference rival Valparaiso.
• Those numbers were in jeopardy of worsening as Bradley faced a 1-0 deficit to the Crusaders in the 66th minute when lightning struck in the area of Shea Stadium, forcing the game to be halted.
• The lightning persisted and ultimately forced the game to be abandoned due to NCAA rules regarding the amount of time passed from the start of the game until a potential re-start (three hours).
• The teams met two days later, Oct. 1, at Valparaiso and re-played the game from its beginning with the Braves prevailing, 2-1, in double overtime when junior forward TJ Rea scored his first career goal in the 109th minute.
• Since the original game against Valparaiso was abandoned, Bradley is 7-3-1 in its last 11 games.

OFFENSE RUNS THROUGH WINTERMEYER
• A first-team All-MVC selection, to say junior forward Gerit Wintermeyer has carried Bradley's offensive attack in 2019 would be a gross understatement.
• Having scored each of Bradley's last five goals, including the game-winner in each of the last three games, Wintermeyer has scored nine of Bradley's 16 goals on the season - 56.3 percent of the team's total goals.
• Wintermeyer's 69 shots have tied the seventh-best total in program history and represent 34.7 percent of the team's 199 shots on the season.
• His 32 shots on goal are tied for the sixth-most in Bradley history and represent 43.2 percent of the team's total.
• No other member of the 2019 Braves has totaled more than five shots on goal this season.

WINTERMEYER WINNERS
• The reigning College Soccer News National Player of the Week and MVC Offensive Player of the Week, junior forward Gerit Wintermeyer has netted his seventh, eighth and ninth career game-winning goals to power Bradley's current 3-game winning streak.
• Wintermeyer's five game-winning goals on the season are tied for the most in The Valley and have equalled the third-best single-season total in Bradley history.
• Wintermeyer's nine career game-winners are tied for the fourth-most in Bradley history and are the most by a Brave since Bryan Gaul delivered 15 game-winners from 2008-11.
• Wintermeyer now is ninth in Bradley history with 23 total goals and with 53 career points.

WISBEY STANDS OUT IN FINAL SEASON
• A fifth-year senior, keeper Nathan Wisbey made his first career start in the third game of the 2018 season and he allowed just one goal in during a 2-games-in-3-days weekend before a broken arm ended his 2018 season.
• He has assumed Bradley's No. 1 keeper position in 2019, starting 17 of Bradley's 18 games.
• Although he has played just 1,835 career minutes to date, Wisbey's 0.93 goals against average in his 21 career games currently is the second-best in Bradley history.
• Wisbey also has moved into a tie for eighth in Bradley history with his 9.0 career shutouts in just 21 games.
• Wisbey's average of one shutout every 2.3 games is second only to Brandon Barnes' average of a clean sheat for every 2.1 games, also in a limited snapshot (9.5 shutouts in 21 games during the 2017 season).

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