Soccer, Fans Return to Shea Stadium

A limited number of tickets will be available when Bradley Soccer hosts MVC rival Drake Tuesday night at Shea Stadium

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Soccer 3/8/2021 12:00:00 PM

PEORIA, IL - Bradley Soccer will host its third home game of this delayed season, but for the first time the Braves (2-1-0) will take the field at Shea Stadium, when they host Missouri Valley Conference rival Drake (0-1-1) Tuesday night. A limited attendance maximum of 450 fans will be allowed to attend Tuesday's match against the Bulldogs with first priority being given to the student-athlete pass lists and Bradley University students.

Game 4: Drake Bulldogs (0-1-1, 0-1-1 MVC) at Bradley Braves (2-1-0, 1-1-0 MVC)
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Time: 6:00 pm
Where: Peoria, IL (Shea Stadium)
TV/Video Streaming: ESPN3
Audio: N/A
Live Stats: BradleyBraves.com
Tickets: 37 Pods available to general public - $10 Pod of 2 | $15 Pod of 3 | $20 Pod of 4 - Information

Setting the Stage
• Bradley will play its third home game of this unusual 2020-21 season, but for the first time its home game will be played on its traditional home field at Shea Stadium, when the Braves (2-1-0, 1-1-0 MVC) host Missouri Valley Conference rival Drake (0-1-1, 0-1-1 MVC) Tuesday night.
• The Braves began the COVID-19 delayed season Feb. 3 by earning a 3-2 "home" win against Eastern Illinois at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex Slugger Dome and are coming off Thursday's 1-0 "home" win against Valley rival Evansville at Eureka College's McKinzie Field.
• Given time for the natural playing surface to thaw and the venue to be properly prepared to host student-athletes and spectators, Bradley expects to play its final three home games of the season at Shea Stadium.

Series History
47th Meeting | Drake leads 22-19-5 | Bradley leads 14-9-3 at home
• As Bradley prepares to host Drake Tuesday night at Shea Stadium, the 46 games in the series against the Bulldogs make it the most-played series in Braves Soccer history.
• Drake owns a 22-19-5 lead in the all-time series, which dates to Bradley's first season as a NCAA Division I program in 1987 and the Bulldgos will remain the only team Bradley will have faced in each of its 34 seasons.
• The series has been marked by runs of dominance: Drake was 8-1-2 against Bradley from 1987-97, Bradley then enjoyed an 11-2-2 series record from 1998-2007, Drake responded with an 11-3-1 mark from 2008-16 and now Bradley owns 4-1-0 against the Bulldogs since the start of the 2017 season.
• In his 25th season as Bradley head coach, Jim DeRose owns an 18-16-3 record against Drake, while sixth-year Bulldogs head coach Gareth Smith is 5-4-1 in his 10 matchups against DeRose's Braves.

Third Home Game, Third Home Field
• By NCAA rules regarding the determination of home, away and neutral designations, Bradley's games Feb. 3 at the Slugger Dome and March 4 at Eureka officially go down in the books at home games for the Braves.
• Tuesday's game against Drake will be Bradley's third "home" game of the year and will be played at a third different venue.
• While the first two games of this season were played at first-time "home" sites, Tuesday's game against Drake will be played at the longest-serving home venue in program history: Shea Stadium has hosted 181 Bradley Soccer games since its conversion into a soccer-specific stadium for the start of the 2003 season.
• Ironically, the Shea Stadium property previously was known as Pete Vonachen Stadium at Meinen Field and was the home of Bradley Baseball and the Peoria Chiefs minor league baseball organization.
• Overall, Eureka's Pete FioRito Stadium at McKinzie Field became the seventh venue to host a Bradley Soccer home game in the program's 34 years as a NCAA Division I program.

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