Men's Soccer Opens MVC Schedule With Nationally-Ranked Foes
9/29/2004 3:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
#17 SMU at #4 Creighton
Friday, Oct. 1 - Creighton Soccer Field - 7:30 p.m.
#23 Tulsa at #4 Creighton
Sunday, Oct. 3 - Creighton Soccer Field - 2:30 p.m.
This Week: The fourth-ranked Bluejays open the Missouri Valley Conference season with a pair of difficult games. CU welcomes preseason favorite and 17th-ranked SMU to Omaha on Friday night for homecoming and to open the MVC slate. No. 23 Tulsa, picked third in the MVC preseason poll, comes to Omaha on Sunday for a 2:30 p.m. game.
Last Week: Creighton upped its home record to 5-0-0 with a 3-1 victory over Air Force. The Bluejays exploded for three goals in the first 13 minutes of play, including two in the first five minutes. Freshman Tim Bohnenkamp notched his third goal in three games and rookie Joan Carvajal netted his first collegiate goal. Julian Nash dished two assists and Jarod Tarver scored in the victory.
Scouting the Opponents
#17 SMU (5-3-0, 0-0-0 MVC): The Mustangs enter MVC play with a 5-3-0 record
against one of the strongest schedules in the country. SMU has lost to national power Stanford, nationally-ranked South Florida and No. 3 Penn State in double overtime last Sunday. SMU?s wins have come against such powers as Kentucky, Saint Louis and Florida International. The Mustangs have played only two home contests this year and with two road games this weekend, will have played eight straight road games. Duke Hashimoto leads the Mustang attack with five goals and 13 points, after logging a hat trick against Yale last weekend. Goalkeeping duties have been split between incumbent T.J. Tomasso and freshman Steve Sandbo. Tomasso has a 75.9 save percentage and 1.60 goals against average, while Sandbo has stopped only 37.5 percent of shots faced and carries a 1.37 GAA.
#23 Tulsa (4-2-1, 0-0-0 MVC): The Golden Hurricane have also played a difficult non-conference slate in preparation for their MVC opener at Drake on Friday night. Tulsa is led by the 2003 MVC Player of the Year, Ryan Pore. The All-American ranked second in the NCAA in scoring last year and has already scored seven goals and 16 points this season to lead the squad. Rookie Todd Goddard has added four goals and transfer Daniel Wasson ranked third in the NCAA in goals scored at Air Force last year. Freshman Dominic Cervi has claimed the starting goalkeeper role and has stopped 17 shots in six games for a 1.38 GAA.
Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea College, 1975) is in his second stint as the Jays? head coach with a 119-39-14 (.733) record in his ninth season at CU. His overall mark is 313-155-44 (.654) in 27 years of coaching. His 313 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.
CU in Top Ten: The Bluejays have cracked the top-10 in all four national polls this week, earning their highest regular-season ranking since Sept. 18, 2000. The Jays are ranked fourth in the NSCAA/adidas and CollegeSoccerNews.com polls while being ranked eighth by both Soccer America and Soccer Times.
Mustang Madness: In the history of CU soccer, no team has defeated the Bluejays more than SMU. The Mustangs are 15-5-0 all-time against CU. The Jays, who defeated SMU 2-0 last year in Dallas, have never won consecutive games against the Mustangs.
Weathering the Storm: The Tulsa Golden Hurricane were the only MVC team to defeat the Bluejays in the regular-season last year. Tulsa topped the Jays 2-1 in the regular-season finale in Tulsa last Nov. 2. CU is 12-6-1 all-time against Tulsa, including a 10-3-1 mark since the rebirth of CU soccer in 1990.
That's a Winner: CU is 6-1-0, off to its best start since the 2000 team, which led the NCAA with 22 wins. Freshman Joan Carvajal scored CU's game-winning goal against Air Force last Saturday, becoming the sixth different game-winning goal scorer in CU's six victories this season. Two other rookies have scored game-winners - Danny Minutillo vs. UCLA and Tim Bohnenkamp vs. Marquette. The Odorisio cousins - Vince and Tony - have each provided a winner and Kama Bennah also has one.
Conference Powers Collide: Since SMU joined the MVC as an affiliate member in 2000, no other team besides Creighton or SMU has captured the regular-season or MVC tournament championship. SMU won the regular-season crown from 2000 through 2002, before the Bluejays claimed their sixth regular-season crown last year. CU has won eight MVC tournaments, including the 2000 and 2002 affairs, while SMU won the event in 2001 and 2003.
Fantastic Fanatics: If 3,036 fans show up for Friday night's match against SMU, CU will surpass last season?s total attendance in just six home matches. Last year the Jays brought in 14,273 fans for 11 home dates, while CU has already welcomed 11,238 fans to five home games this fall. CU's current average attendance of 2,248 fans would have ranked second in the NCAA last year.
Home Sweet Home: With a 5-0-0 record at home this season, Creighton's home record since 1990 is now an impressive 114-18-6 (.848). 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.
Fighting the Force: The Bluejays defeated Air Force 3-1 in their only game last week, scoring all three goals in the first 13 minutes of play. The Falcons unloaded an opponent season-high 17 shots on the Bluejays. For the second time this season, Julian Nash recorded two assists in one game.
Crowded Leaderboard: Four Bluejays are tied for the team-lead with seven points. Both Jarod Tarver and Tim Bohnenkamp have three goals and one assist for their seven points. Vince Odorisio has two goals and three assists, while Julian Nash tops the team with five assists, adding one goal on the year. Last year, CU did not have four players with seven points until the 17th game of the year.
Three With Three: Senior Kama Bennah, sophomore Jarod Tarver and freshman Tim Bohnenkamp are each tied for the team lead with three goals. Bennah's three goals and six points are career highs, while Tarver has already equalled his offensive output from a year ago with three goals and one assist. Bohnenkamp has scored a goal in three consecutive games entering the weekend.
MVC Leader: Senior Julian Nash leads the MVC with five assists this season. He scored more points in his first four matches this season than he did in 17 matches all of last year. With one goal and three assists through four contests, Nash had five points after logging only four points last year. Nash has been more aggressive this year and has 11 shots on goal in seven games after recording only seven shots on net in 17 games last year.
Shutouts are Out: After shutting out Western Michigan, 4-0, to open the year, CU has gone six consecutive games without being involved in a shutout. The six straight games with both teams scoring marks the longest such streak since the 2000 team played in eight consecutive games with both teams getting in the scoring column.
National Recognition: Freshman Tim Bohnenkamp scored two goals and added an
assist in CU's wins over Wisconsin and Marquette on Sept. 17 and 19. For his efforts, the rookie midfielder was named to the CollegeSoccerNews.com and Soccer America National Teams of the Week.
Strange Stats: The Bluejays have recorded a winning record against 18 of the 22 teams which they have faced at least five times in their history. CU plays three of the four teams which they have a losing record against this season. CU has already defeated two of those three opponents, beating Marquette 2-1 to move the Jays to 3-5-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles. The Jays also moved their all-time record to .500 against Air Force with a 3-1 win last Saturday. CU is now 3-3-2 all-time against the USAFA. CU now plays SMU (5-15-0) this Friday, while SIU-Edwardsville (3-4-0) is now an annual Division II power.
Blue Fan Group: The 4,029 fans that showed up for CU's only exhibition home match of the season (Aug. 27) 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.
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 2,925 vs. Air Force, Sept. 25, 2004
Quick Score: Vince Odorisio raced to the net and scored the second-fastest goal from the start of a game in school history against UCLA (Sept. 10). Odorisio took a pass from Julian Nash and scored just 26 seconds into the game. The fastest CU goal came in 16 seconds, by All-American Brian Kamler on Oct. 9, 1992 against Bradley.
Fastest goal from the start of the game in Creighton History
1. 0:16, B. Kamler, vs. Bradley, 10-9-92
2. 0:26, V. Odorisio, vs. UCLA, 9-10-04
3. 0:30, L. Hill, vs. SMS, 11-5-94
Memphis Blues: Michael Kraus, a sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., and the Bluejays leading scorer in 2003 will miss the remainder of the 2004 season after undergoing surgery on an injured ankle the second week of September. The forward injured the ankle in CU's final exhibition match, but made a brief appearance in the Jays? 2-1 win over Loyola Marymount during the regular-season.
Watch These Guys: 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 (13), assists (18) and points (42). Rookie Joan Carvajal has been tabbed as one of 100 freshmen in the nation to watch this season by CollegeSoccerNews.com.
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.
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 and name 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.
