Creighton University
Tulsa
No. 17 Men's Soccer Topped by Tulsa in Shootout
11/12/2004 2:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
OMAHA, Neb. - The 17th-ranked Creighton men's soccer team was defeated in a shootout after tying Tulsa, 1-1, following two overtime periods on Friday night at Morrison Stadium in the semifinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship. The Golden Hurricane prevailed 4-3 in the penalty kicks to advance to Sunday's championship match against third-ranked SMU.
Creighton (13-4-1), playing in its first overtime match of the season, had plenty of scoring opportunities in the second half and both overtime periods, but could not find the back of the net to push ahead of Tulsa (10-5-3). Matt Wieland's blast from point blank range in the first overtime was turned away by TU keeper Terry Boss. The Jays out-played, out-worked and out-shot the Hurricane to the tune of a 12-2 shot advantage in the second half and 4-0 on corner kicks.
After trailing 1-0 at halftime to Tulsa, the Bluejays dominated the remainder of the match. The majority of the remaining time was played with CU as the aggressor, finishing the match with a 21-10 shot edge and 11-3 on corners. Boss was stellar in net for Tulsa, turning away several scoring opportunities with dazzling saves, finishing the night with eight stops.
Freshman Todd Goddard got TU on the board in the 13th minute when hisattempted crossing pass was actually knocked into the net by an unfortunateCU bounce off of keeper Andrew Brown. The tally was Goddard's eight of theseason.
CU scored the equalizer when sophomore Michael Kraus put back a rebound in the 61st minute. Boss was still on the ground after stopping a Jarod Tarver shot when Kraus punched the ball across the line. The goal was the first of the year for Kraus, who appeared in only his second match of the season and first since playing against Loyola Marymount in the opening weekend of play.
In the shootout, it appeared as though Creighton had momentum when Brown turned away TU's second shot by Brian McMurdy. The Jays made their first two penalty kicks, but freshman Hurricane keeper Dominic Cervi - who entered play for only the shootout - stopped two of CU's last three shots, including a save on Tony Odorisio's final attempt to keep the shootout going.
TU moves on to face third-ranked and top-seeded SMU in the championship match. SMU also advanced to the finals with a shootout win following a 1-1 tie. The Mustangs topped Bradley 5-3 in PKs for a shot at the MVC tournament title. The championship match will kick off at 1 p.m. at Morrison Stadium and will be televised live on Fox Sports Net.
CU's next match will most likely come next Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Bluejays will learn of their fate on Monday afternoon when the 48-team tournament field is announced by the NCAA.
