PEORIA, Ill. - The awards continue to roll in for Bradley Soccer senior forward Bryan Gaul (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley H.S.) following his offensive outburst during the opening weekend of the season. Today Gaul has been named to the Soccer America Men's College Soccer Team of the Week, while adding an academic component to weekly awards from the Missouri Valley Conference and Bradley University.
Boasting a 3.21 cumulative grade point average while majoring in communications (advertising), Gaul today also has been named the Prairie Farms/MVC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week and the Country Financial/Bradley University Scholar-Athlete of the Week. He has earned a spot on the Bradley Athletic Director's Honor Roll for recording a minimum 3.0 semester grade point average four times during his college career.
Gaul contributed to four of Bradley's five goals during the team's weekend sweep through Indiana, a 4-1 win Friday night at #21 Butler and a 1-0 win Sunday afternoon at IPFW. He assisted Christian Meza's seventh-minute goal at Butler, then scored the next two on his own from a combined 70 yards. Gaul's 40-yard, left-footer in the 17th minute gave the Braves a 2-0 lead and proved to be the game-winner.
In Sunday's win at IPFW, Gaul was taken down in the box while making a penetrating drive on the right flank in the 40th minute and calmly converted the resulting penalty kick for his third goal of the weekend and second game-winner.
On Monday, Gaul was named the National Player of the Week by both the CollegeSoccerNews.com and TopDrawerSoccer.com websites.
The Braves (2-0-0) will open their 2011 home schedule by hosting former Missouri Valley Conference rival Eastern Illinois (1-0-0) Thursday and Green Bay (0-0-0) Saturday. Both games will kick off at 7 p.m. at Shea Stadium. Single-game tickets are available for purchase one hour prior to kickoff at the Shea Stadium Box Office and are $6 for adults, $3 for youth (K-12) and free for Bradley University students, faculty and staff, as well as active members of the military and their immediate families, all with valid identification. Season tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for youth (K-12) and are available for purchase at the Renaissance Coliseum Box Office.
