Bluejays Storm to East Coast for Men's Soccer
9/17/2003 3:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Creighton Travels East to Participate in the Yale Classic
Friday & Sunday ? Sept. 19 & 21 ? Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium ? New Haven, Conn.
vs. #17 Brown, Sept. 19, 4:00 p.m.
at Yale, Sept. 21, 1:30 p.m.
This Week: Creighton concludes its non-conference schedule with two matches at the Yale Classic in New Haven, Conn. The Jays will be facing 17th-ranked Brown on Friday and Yale on Sunday, the first time the Jays have played either program.
Last Week: The Bluejays finished second at the 13th Annual Ameritas Classic at the Creighton Soccer Field. The Jays lost to UNLV, 2-0, on Friday night before rebounding with a 2-1 win over Portland on Sunday afternoon. Matt Jewett and Matt Wieland provided the goals in Sunday's win, Wieland's first career tally. Jewett, Matt Thomas and David Wagenfuhr were named to the all-tournament team.
Scouting the Opponents:
#17 Brown (2-0-0): The Bears are coming off an impressive season opening weekend in which they knocked off No. 19 Stanford, 2-1, and Wisconsin, 4-3. The Bears, who finished 5-8-4 in 2002, received two goals and an assist from Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, Adom Crew, last weekend. Defensive Player of the Week, Matt Britner, scored the game-winning goal against Stanford. Brown is averaging three goals and 17 shots per game.
Yale (1-1-0): The Bulldogs also opened their season at the adidas-Brown classic last weekend. Yale was shutout by Wisconsin Friday, before defeating No. 19 Stanford, 2-1, on Sunday. Andrew Dealy's penalty kick against Stanford in the 49th minute was the difference. Yale, 9-6-1 last year, put 41.9 percent of their shots on goal last weekend.
Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea College, 1975) is in his second stint as the Jays' head coach with a 103-34-12 (.732) record in his eighth season at CU. His overall mark is 297-150-42 (.650) in his 26th year of coaching. Warming, the all-time winningest head coach at CU, has guided his teams to nine NCAA Tournament appearances, is a four-time finalist for National Coach of the Year and was the MVC Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1993.
Introduce Yourself: The Bluejays have never faced Brown nor Yale in a soccer match. In fact the Jays have played only one match against an Ivy League school, defeating Harvard, 6-0, on Sept. 18, 1999 in Cambridge, Mass. (Not to be confused with CU playing Cornell College of Mount Vernon, Iowa in 1981)
Welcome Matts: Matt Jewett and Matt Wieland scored CU's goals in its win over Portland on Sunday. Wieland's goal was the first of his career, coming off of a header. Matt Thomas joined the other two Matts in excelling last weekend, being named to the Ameritas Classic All-Tournament team, along with Jewett and David Wagenfuhr.
Freaky Fridays: Creighton has yet to score a Friday goal this season, playing to two scoreless ties and a 2-0 loss last Friday to UNLV. The Jays are 0-1-2 on Friday's despite out-shooting their opposition 57-36, including a 21-16 edge in shots on goal. Conversely, the Jays are 2-1-0 on Sundays, receiving six goals from six separate players to start the year.
Milestone Goal: Sophomore Matt Wieland tallied the game-winning goal in Sunday's 2-1 win over Portland, the first goal of his career. Feeding Wieland the assist was senior David Wagenfuhr. The assist for Wagenfuhr was the 23rd of his career. With his next assist, Wagenfuhr will tie current MLS star Brian Kamler (New England Revolution) for seventh place.
Climbing the Charts: David Wagenfuhr's assist in CU's win over Portland on Sunday was the 23rd of his CU career. The assist tied him with Brian Adams (1991-94) and Ray Nikodem (1980-82) for eighth-place on the CU career charts.
E-Coach: Head Coach Bob Warming sent an eight-page note in an e-mail to his players last Saturday, defining to each player what his role on the team should be to help the Jays be successful. His squad responded with a 2-1 win over perennial national power, Portland, on Sunday afternoon.
Young Guns: Creighton started five freshmen in last Sunday's win over Portland. Freshmen have now earned 16 starts through the first six matches. Rookie Andrew Peterson is one of four CU players to start all six matches this year, while freshman Jarod Tarver has made five starts.
Sibling Rivalry: Matt Wieland's first career goal came in his 29th career match, against Portland last Sunday. His older brother Joe played at CU from 1999 through 2002 and scored his only career goal in his 84th match. Both Wieland goals served as game-winners, with Joe's coming against UW-Milwaukee in the second round of the NCAA last Nov. 27.
Guido Info: Senior Guido Leon has started all six CU matches this season in goal, notching an impressive 0.97 goals against average in his first CU starts. His 27 saves on the year top the Missouri Valley Conference.
Deuces Wild: At 2-2-2 the Bluejays have notched a never-before-seen record at Creighton. With just six goals through the first six matches, the Jays have also notched the lowest goal total through six matches since the 1984 team netted three in its first six outings.
Coast to Coast: CU's trip to New Haven, Conn., this weekend will complete their 2003 coast-to-coast tour. The Jays hit the West Coast from Sept. 5-7 to participate in the Loyola Marymount Fall Classic in Los Angeles.
Ameritas Classic: The Bluejays finished 1-1-0 at the 13th Annual Ameritas Classic last weekend at the Creighton Soccer Field. The Jays are now 18-5-1 all-time in the event, having won eight tournament championships. The first Ameritas Classic was held in 1990 and after a hiatus in 1991, has been held every year since. CU won the event in 2002, but has gone 1-1-0 in four of the last five years.
2003 Ameritas Classic
All-Tournament Team
Alex Hernandez, UNLV - MVP
Kristian Paanenen, UNLV
Mark Stock, UNLV
Matt Johnson, UNLV
Matt Jewett, Creighton
Matt Thomas, Creighton
David Wagenfuhr, Creighton
Christopher Sanders, Portland
Josh Simpson, Portland
Ryan Crawford, SMS
Jim Levesque, SMS
Pulling Rank: The Jays fell out of the NSCAA Top 25 but remain in the Top 25 in three polls; NSCAA/adidas (NR) Soccer America (15), Soccer Times (25) and College Soccer News (23).
Double Zero: For the second time in CU's first three matches, the Bluejays finished a match tied 0-0 at Santa Clara on Sept. 5. It marked the 12th scoreless tie in CU history, and just the second time the Jays have had two 0-0 ties in the same season. The other coming in 1996 - the year the Bluejays first appeared in the College Cup.
MAC Hermann Trophy: Senior David Wagenfuhr has been named to the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy “Watch List”. He is one of 15 candidates for collegiate soccer's version of the Heisman Trophy. The midfielder/defender has earned first-team all-Midwest region honors and first-team all-MVC honors over the past two campaigns. Other Bluejays who have been finalists for the National Player of the Year: Ross Paule (1996), Richard Mulrooney (1998), Mike Tranchilla (2001, 2002), while Johnny Torres won the honor in 1997.
Working Overtime: Of CU's first four matches this season, the Jays played in three double overtime affairs. Dating back to last season, five of seven CU matches in that span went beyond regulation. Since 2000, the Bluejays are now 7-4-5 in overtime contests.
Coaches' Countdown: Bob Warming needs three more wins to reach 300 in his coaching career, which has spanned 26 years and six schools.
Weekend of Firsts: The first weekend at the new Creighton Soccer Field had its share of firsts. Senior Zach Piercy's first career goal was also the first Creighton goal scored at the new facility. The Jays' shutout of Butler on Friday night was not only the first shutout at the facility, it was senior goalkeeper Guido Leon's first blanking of an opponent.
Jays Open New Field: CU's 0-0 tie against Butler on Aug. 31 was witnessed by 3,483 fans at the new Creighton Soccer Field. The attendance was the fourth largest home crowd in CU history and the largest since Sept. 1994.
Season Openers: The Bluejays have never lost a season-opener under Head Coach Bob Warming. CU has tallied a 6-0-2 mark in Warming's eight season-openers at the helm. Since 1990 the Bluejays have lost just one debut, falling to No. 20 Duke in Bret Simon's first game as head coach, Sept. 2, 1995.
Battling the Best: Creighton's win over No. 15 Furman on Aug. 31 moved its all-time record against Top 25 opponents to 34-30-6, including a 5-3-1 record against ranked opponents in 2002.
MVC Predictions: For the fourth consecutive season, the Jays have been tabbed for a second-place finish in the Valley, trailing nationally-ranked SMU, which received eight of nine first-place votes this fall.
Preseason Honors: David Wagenfuhr and Julian Nash have been named to the preseason all-Missouri Valley Conference first-team, while Damien Westfield earned honorable mention preseason notice.
Numerology 101: All-American Mike Tranchilla has departed the Jays, but his jersey number will still be on the pitch this fall, as sophomore Zach Kinney has claimed No. 14 in blue. Kinney led the Jays in scoring this spring and in exhibition play, perhaps Tranch left some magic in the jersey. Other notable number changes this fall include Matt Wieland and Jered Turner. Wieland, who wore No. 24 as a freshman, will wear No. 16 this fall, the same number older brother Joe wore his four seasons as a Jay. Turner switches from No. 23 to No. 7, formerly worn by Luiz Del Monte.
BLUEJAY SOCCER QUICK KICKS:
? The Jays are one of five programs in the nation to appear in each of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments (Indiana, St. John's, UCLA, Virginia).
? The Jays have won a record eight MVC Tournament Titles in 12 years, while winning a combined 13 of 24 MVC regular-season and tournament championships.
? CU has appeared in three of the last seven NCAA College Cups (Final Fours), 1996, 2000 and 2002.
? Creighton's .755 winning percentage since 1990 (198-58-19) ranks fifth-best in the NCAA during that span.
