The Missouri State men's soccer team (10-3-2, 5-1-1) put three goals on the board in the first half and held off Bradley (5-9-1, 0-7-0) en route to a 3-0 victory at Plaster Field today.  The Bears run their winning streak to five matches and by virtue of the draw between Creighton and Eastern Illinois today, Missouri State moves into first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Paul Paradise led off the scoring for the Bears in the fifth minute of the match.  He received a feed from Kyle Windmueller and converted a sliding kick into the lower left corner of the net.

A minute later, Missouri State struck again.  Heath Melugin intercepted a pass from Bradley goalkeeper Drew Van Kampen in the box.  He turned around and slid the ball past Van Kemper for a 2-0 Bears lead.

In the 20th minute, Paradise would again out-battle the defender.  This time he got a feed from Johannes Demarzi and beat the defender to the pass putting the Bears up 3-0. 

Missouri State outshot Bradley, 13-8, in the game.  Paradise and Melugin each recorded three shots to lead the team. 

Missouri State goalkeeper Alex Riggs made four saves in the win.  He was relieved in the 79th minute by Nikolas Markos, the first minutes of the season by a Missouri State goalkeeper other than Riggs.  The shutout is the team's eighth of the season.  The only other season where the Bears had eight or more shutouts in the regular season was 1998 with 10 shutouts.

"Our guys had a good week," said head coach Jon Leamy.  "We got three points at home today and now we get ready for Drake next Sunday."

Missouri State will continue its three-game homestand when Drake visits Plaster Field on Sunday, November 1 at 1:00 p.m.  Sunday's match with the Bulldogs will be Senior Day for the Bears.  The Bears final home match of the season will be Wednesday, November 4 with a 1:00 kick against Evansville.