24th-Ranked Bluejays Open Men's Soccer Season at Home
9/1/2004 3:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
#24 Creighton Plays Host to the Diadora Challenge
Friday & Sunday ? Sept. 3 & Sept. 5 ? Creighton Soccer Field
vs. Western Michigan, Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m. ? SMS vs. LMU, Sept. 3, 5:00 p.m.
vs. Loyola Marymount, Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. ? SMS vs. WMU, Sept. 5, 5:00 p.m.
This Week: The 24th-ranked Bluejays open the regular-season by playing host to the eighth annual Diadora Challenge at the newly completed Creighton Soccer Field. The Jays face two 2003 NCAA Tournament teams to open the season. CU battles Western Michigan on Friday at 7:30 p.m. to kickoff the season and the Jays take on Loyola Marymount on Sunday night at 7:30 to conclude the tournament. Southwest Missouri State will face LMU and WMU at 5 p.m. on both Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Exhibition Recap: The Bluejays closed out a 1-2-0 exhibition season with a 1-0 victory over UMKC last Friday night in front of 4,029 fans at the Creighton Soccer Field. The crowd was the third largest in school history to witness a home men's soccer match, marking only the third crowd with more than 4,000 fans. CU also lost 1-0 road contests to fourth-ranked Saint Louis and Denver in the preseason. Freshman Tim Bohnenkamp scored the Jays' lone preseason goal on a 22-yard free-kick blast against UMKC last Friday.
Scouting the Opponents:
Western Michigan: The Broncos are opening their 2004 season in Omaha, one year after appearing in the NCAA Tournament. WMU was 12-7-2 last year and earned the Mid-American Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA postseason after capturing the MAC Tournament crown. The Broncos won their only exhibition match of the season, 3-2, over Kalamazoo College last Sunday.
Loyola Marymount: The Lions also open the regular season in Omaha, but enter with five games of preseason play under their belt. LMU recently finished a European trip in which the Lions went 4-1, while playing in England and Italy. The Lions played in their third consecutive NCAA Tournament last year, going 12-7-1. Matt Kovar and Junior Ybarra are returning all-conference players for the Lions. Armando Melendez led the Lions with five goals and five assists during their five-game tour in Europe, while newcomer Diego Berrera scored twice and added three assists. Last year in Los Angeles, the Lions topped the Bluejays 2-1 in double overtime, scoring the winning goal with just three seconds to play.
Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea College, 1975) is in his second stint as the Jays' head coach with a 113-38-14 (.727) record in his eight seasons at CU. His overall mark is 307-154-44 (.651) in 26 years of coaching. His 307 wins rank among the top-15 active men's soccer coaches in the NCAA. Warming, the all-time winningest soccer coach at CU, has guided his teams to 10 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.
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. Only once since 1990 have the Bluejays opened the season away from Tranquility Park. On Aug. 29, 1997, the Bluejays traveled to take on Saint Louis (then under Warming's tutelage). The Jays and Billikens played to a 1-1 tie that day, with current CU assistant coach Jason Mims in uniform for the Billikens.
“0” No: In two of the last three seasons the Bluejays have opened the year with 0-0 double overtime ties. The Jays opened the Creighton Soccer Field with a scoreless tie against Butler last Aug. 29 and played to a 0-0 draw against Memphis to open the 2001 season.
Blue Fan Group: The 4,029 fans that showed up last Friday night for CU's only exhibition home match of the season marked the third largest home crowd in school history and just the third crowd of more than 4,000. Two of CU's three largest all-time crowds have witnessed exhibition matches and four of the five largest crowds have come in August. Listed below are the top three home crowds and top three crowds at the new Creighton Soccer Field:
Top Three CU Home Crowds
1 ? 4,407 vs. SLU, Aug. 31, 1997
2 ? 4,345 vs. Virginia (Exh.), Aug. 28, 1993
3 ? 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 2004
Top Three CU Soccer Field Crowds
1 ? 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 2004
2 ? 3,483 vs. Butler, Aug., 29, 2003
3 ? 2,267 vs. Drake, Oct. 3, 2003
For Starters: The Bluejays return six starters from last year's Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship team, including the 2003 MVC Defensive Player of the Year, junior Matt Wieland. Sophomores Tony Odorisio and Michael Kraus earned all-MVC Freshman Team honors last year, while starting as rookies. Other returners who started at least 14 matches last year include senior Brett Rodriguez and sophomores Andrew Peterson and Jarod Tarver.
Nine Gone: The Bluejays lost nine seniors from last year's team, including All-American midfielder David Wagenfuhr and goalkeeper Guido Leon. Among those nine players, the Bluejays lost five starters and four all-conference players from a year ago.
Watch This: Senior Julian Nash has been named to the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy Watch List. The MAC Hermann Trophy is annually awarded to the top player in collegiate soccer. Nash is the active CU career leader in goals (12), assists (13) and points (37).
Local Flavor: Junior Matt Wieland, a graduate of Creighton Prep and the 2003 MVC Defensive Player of the Year, tops the Bluejays' list of local talent. Returning along with Wieland from the Omaha Metro area are juniors Jered Turner (Blair) and Vince Odorisio (Skutt) and sophomore Tony Odorisio (Skutt). Newcomers from the area include sophomore transfer from Hastings College, Ryan Junge (Millard West) and freshmen Tony Schmitz (Skutt), Tim Bohnenkamp (Millard South) and Matt Allen (Burke).
Who's Got Net: Fifth-year senior Andrew Brown returns to his goalkeeping duties. Brown started four of CU's five postseason matches last year, including three NCAA Tournament contests. Brown was CU's starter as a sophomore in 2001 before redshirting the 2002 season with a knee injury.
Bye High School: Freshman goalkeeper Matt Allen is breaking ground in Creighton soccer. Allen should be a senior at Burke High School this fall, but graduated a year early in order to come to Creighton. He is the first player in CU soccer history to come to campus a year early.
Preseason Picks: Matt Wieland and Michael Kraus have been named to the preseason all-MVC Team and Julian Nash earned an honorable mention preseason nod. The Bluejays have been selected to finish second in the Valley, behind perennial national power and 2003 tournament champion, SMU. The Jays have now been the No. 2 preseason pick for five consecutive seasons.
Diadora Challenge: Creighton plays host to the eighth annual Diadora Challenge this weekend. The Bluejays have never lost at the Challenge, recording an all-time mark of 10-0-3. Despite having never lost a match at the tournament, the Bluejays have not won the event since 1999, when they played only one match in the tournament. CU defeated North Carolina, 3-0, that season. CU then knocked off No. 12 Washington and Bowling Green in the 2000 Diadora Challenge, but finished as the runner-up (to SMS) due to goals allowed. The Bluejays have recorded a 1-0-1 mark in each of the last three season-opening tournaments, finishing as runners-up in both 2001 and 2002, while placing third last year.
2003 Diadora Challenge
All-Tournament Team
Alex Maslow, Furman
McNeil Cronin, Furman
Matt Jewett, Creighton
Andrew Peterson, Creighton
Evan Reinhardt, Butler
John Mariscalco, Butler
Scott Olsen, Butler
Ian Rodway, Maryland
A.J. Herrera, Maryland
Scott Buete, Maryland
MVP - Seth Stammler, Maryland
Home Cooking: Creighton's home record since 1990 is an impressive 109-18-6 (.842). Last year the Bluejays were 7-2-2 in their first season at the Creighton Soccer Field. CU has never lost more than three home matches in one season.
Tournament Hosts: The Creighton Soccer Field will serve as host to the 2004 State Farm Missouri Valley Soccer Championship on Nov. 12 and 14. Semifinal matches will be played on Friday night and the championship match will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday. It marks the first time in five years the championship will be held on a campus.
Mark Your Calendar: Creighton University will officially dedicate the new soccer facility on Friday, Oct. 15. The women's team takes on Northern Iowa at 5 p.m. The men will then battle Vanderbilt at 7:30 p.m. A dedication ceremony is planned between games.
