PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley dominated the Missouri Valley Conference leader Missouri State for the first 80 minutes, then withstood a furious Bears attack in the final 10 minutes for a 1-0 victory Wednesday night at Shea Stadium.

All-American candidate Bryan Gaul drew a yellow-card foul against Missouri State goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg in the penalty area in the 47th minute then deposited the resulting penalty kick for the game’s only goal at 46:14.  With his ninth overall goal of the year, Gaul kept pace with Creighton’s Ethan Finlay as The Valley’s leader with five game-winning strikes, while also moving into sole possession of fifth place on Bradley’s list with 29 career goals and into a tie for seventh place with 69 career points.

Bradley (10-4-2, 2-2-0 MVC) exercised its Missouri State demons while climbing into the middle of The Valley race.  Missouri State was 3-0-1 all-time at Shea Stadium against Bradley and the Braves snapped a 6-game (0-5-1) overall winless streak in the series.  Coupled with Creighton’s 2-0 win against Drake Wednesday night, the Bears (6-7-2, 3-1-0) fell into a three-way tie for first place in the league standings as the Bluejays (3-1-0), Bulldogs (3-2-0) and Bears all have nine points on the strength of their three league wins.  Bradley moves into sole possession of fourth place with six points and two games remaining, Saturday at Evansville and Nov. 5 at Central Arkansas.

Bradley outshot Missouri State, 10-4, in the first half and pushed the advantage to 18-6 before the Bears got their first shot on goal of the game in the 84th minute.  Bradley keeper Brian Billings pushed consecutive shots by David Buckenheimer (83:20) and Jarred Clark (83:56) over the cross bar in the 84th minute, then stopped a Heath Melugin attempt in the 89th minute for his third save of the game, securing his third shutout of the season.

Spagenberg, who just missed on Gaul’s penalty kick attempt, also made three saves on the night.  His best save came in the 76th minute, when he turned away a Keegan Balle header from point-blank range at the right post.

In between Bradley’s final two Valley games, the Braves will return home Monday night for a non-conference game against Oral Roberts.  Kickoff on Halloween night will be an hour later than normal, 8 p.m., and Bradley’s eight seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony prior to the regular-season home finale.

GAME NOTES:  Bradley extended its program and MVC record streak of consecutive games decided by no more than one goal to 15 ... The streak is the second-longest active streak in the nation (Siena, 16) and the Braves are 9-4-2 in the close games ... Dating back to last season, 23 of Bradley's last 25 games have been decided by no more than one goal ... Wednesday's game was Bradley's 100th all-time at Shea Stadium, where the Braves now own a 61-30-9 (.655) record since moving into the facility to start the 2003 season ... Gaul is second in Bradley history with 14 career game-winning goals, trailing only Gavin Glinton (17, 1998-2001).

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