PEORIA, Ill. – Bryan Gaul scored following the second of Bradley's nine corner kick opportunities and the early lead held up as the Braves defeated Eastern Illinois men's soccer, 1-0, Saturday evening at Shea Stadium.

The loss eliminated the Panthers (6-7-3, 2-5-1 MVC) from Missouri Valley Conference Tournament contention. Missouri State, Drake, Creighton and Evansville will participate in the four-team field this year. Next season, the tourney returns to a six-team format.

Bradley (5-10-1, 1-8-0 MVC) enjoyed a 9-0 edge in corner kick chances. Eastern was held without a corner for the second time this year. Gaul scored off a corner in the sixth minute, recording his third goal of the season.

Sean Molony finished with two saves in goal for EIU. The Panthers also accounted for a team save when a BU shot attempt was kept out of the net after a corner kick in the 38th minute.

 

Bradley goalkeeper Kyle Orne stopped all four of the Panthers' shots on goal. Ryan Child, Alex Harrison, Jerry Maddi and Mike Picinich challenged Orne with shot attempts. All four shots on goal came in the second half.

 

Jeff Kupiec, Kyle Zumski, Harrison and Maddi went the distance among the EIU field players. Evan Philpott logged 42 minutes off the bench to lead the reserves.

 

The Panthers were shutout in each of their three games in Peoria this year. Eastern was able to defeat Bradley in 1-0 fashion in the first meeting of the year, Oct. 18 in Charleston.

With home games remaining against Drake (Wednesday) and Missouri State (Saturday) next week, EIU can still have a major impact on who wins the MVC regular-season title. Those two teams square off Sunday in Springfield with first place in the standings on the line. Drake visits Charleston Wednesday for a 3 p.m. kickoff at Lakeside Field.