diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
index 7b9ffe5..109cf2b 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ public final class Saml11TicketValidator extends AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator
         try {
             conn = (HttpURLConnection) validationUrl.openConnection();
             conn.setRequestMethod("POST");
+            conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "text/xml"); 
             conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", Integer.toString(MESSAGE_TO_SEND.length()));
             conn.setRequestProperty("SOAPAction", "http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/security");
             conn.setUseCaches(false);