Bradley Soccer Returns Home Sunday

Coming off a 3-game road swing, the Braves return to Shea Stadium Sunday to host Valparaiso in their MVC home opener

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Soccer 9/27/2019 12:11:00 PM

PEORIA, IL – With its first 3-game road trip of the year in the rearview mirror, Bradley Soccer returns to Shea Stadium Sunday afternoon to host Valparaiso in its Missouri Valley Conference home opener. All general parking at Shea Stadium will be free Sunday.

GAME DAY DETAILS
Valparaiso (2-4-1, 1-1-0 MVC) at Bradley (1-3-3, 0-1-1 MVC)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019
Time: 1:00 p.m. CT
Location: Peoria, IL | Shea Stadium
Tickets: $6 adults, $4 youth (K-8th grade)
TV: The Valley on ESPN | ESPN3
Live Stats: BradleyBraves.com

BRADLEY SOCCER TICKETS
Single-Game Adult: $6
Single-Game Children (K-8th grade): $4
Kaboom!'s Club: FREE (with $10 annual membership) | Click HERE for information
Bradley students, faculty and staff (with valid ID): FREE
Active Military and Immediate Family (with valid ID): FREE
For Complete Information: Click Here

BRADLEY SOCCER TICKET BANK
• Supporters of the Bradley Soccer program, led by the Friends of Bradley Soccer, have made more than 5,000 complimentary tickets available for not-for-profit organizations, youth teams, schools and individuals who otherwise may not be able to attend Bradley Soccer home games.
• If you or your organization would like to request tickets from the Bradley Soccer Ticket Bank to utilize during the 2019 season, CLICK HERE and complete the request form and you will be contacted by a representative of the Bradley Soccer program.
• Please submit requests at least 48 hours prior to the selected game.

OPENING KICKS
• Bradley will play its final game of September Sunday afternoon when the Braves welcome Missouri Valley Conference rival Valparaiso to Shea Stadium.
• Sunday's game will be Bradley's MVC home opener as each of the final five home games will come against its Valley rivals.
• After battling Loyola Chicago to a scoreless draw Wednesday night in Chicago, the Braves will be looking to snap a 4-game winless streak (0-4-1) Sunday afternoon.
• After splitting home Valley games versus Evansville and Drake, Valparaiso will be trying for its first win away from home in 2019.

ATTENDANCE TRACKER
• Through the first four home games of the season, Bradley's average attendance is 1,049.
• According to statistics posted by the NCAA through games of Sept. 26, Bradley ranks 29th nationally in average home attendance, 16th among teams outside the Power 5 conferences and first in The Valley.
• Bradley's four home attendance numbers to start the season - 1233, 1072, 932 and 958 - represent the four largest home attendance figures in the Missouri Valley Conference to date this season.
• Through the season's first four games, Bradley has drawn 4,195 fans to Shea Stadium, just 707 fewer than the total 4,902 fans for the 2018, 10-game home slate.

EXTRA TIME
• Including three of this season's first seven games (0-0-3), 10 of Bradley's last 20 games have gone to extra time and the Braves have emerged from those games with a 3-1-6 (.600) record.
• During the 2018 season, Bradley saw eight of its 17 games go to overtime and the Braves escaped with a 3-1-4 (.625) record in the sudden-victory scenario.
• Bradley's eight overtime games last year were the most in a single season in program history, while the four ties equaled the program mark.
• Now in his 24th year as Bradley head coach, Jim DeRose owns a 36-23-53 (.558) record in overtime games, including a NCAA record 24-game (10-0-14) unbeaten streak in overtime games from 2001-06.
• Bradley's current 7-game (3-0-4) unbeaten streak in overtime games equals the third-longest in program history and is the longest since the Braves went unbeaten in 14 (8-0-6) consecutive overtime games from Aug. 31, 2012 through Sept. 14, 2014.

DOUBLE ROUND ROBIN
• Bradley and Valparaiso will see each other again Oct. 27 when the Braves visit Valpo's Brown Field to complete the home-and-home series.
• The return trip is part of the Missouri Valley Conference's new double, round-robin league schedule format.
• Each of the league's six men's soccer members will play a home-and-home series against one another, creating a 10-game regular-season conference table.
• The 2009 season is the only other year in Valley men's soccer history to feature a full, double round-robin schedule format.

SEPTEMBER ENDINGS
• Through the first 19 years of this century, the final game of September has not played to Bradley's favor.
• Dating back to a 3-2 loss to #12 SMU on Sept. 29, 2000, Bradley is 7-12-0 in its final game of September.
• As the calendar prepares to flip, however, the Braves are 10-6-3 in their October openers since 2000.

DEFENSE REMAINS STOUT
• Bradley's defense put in work for a scoreless draw to secure Wednesday's Valley road point at Loyola Chicago.
• The Ramblers outshot Bradley, 25-9, and finished with a 19-2 advantage in corner kicks for the most corners against the Braves in Bradley's 33-year NCAA Division I history.
• Despite the offensive discrepancy, Loyola managed to put only five shots on target.
• Through the season's first seven games, Bradley leads The Valley by allowing the opposition only a .270 shots-on-goal percentage - of the 89 shots allowed, only 24 have been on target
• The Braves rank second in The Valley with a 0.91 goals against average.
• As for the corner kicks: Bradley is now 3-0-1 (.875) all-time in the four games it has surrendered at least 14 corner kicks, most-recently earning a 2-1 win against #15 Creighton Oct. 28, 2006 when allowing the previous record of 18 corners.

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