No. 8 Men's Soccer at Drake Saturday

#8 Creighton at Drake
Saturday, Nov. 3, 7:00 p.m. ? Des Moines, Iowa

This Week: The Bluejays return to the road, where they are 5-0-0 this season, playing a Saturday night match at Drake. The Jays and Bulldogs kick off at 7 p.m. in Des Moines.

Last Week: Creighton closed out its home regular-season schedule with a 1-0 victory over Missouri State on Senior Night. Sophomore Jeff Thayer scored the game's lone goal, as the Bluejays dominated the contest. MSU did not attempt a second-half shot until the final minute of play, as the Jays out-shot the Bears 23-6 and set a Morrison Stadium record with 15 corner kicks.

Scouting Creighton (9-1-4, 3-0-1 MVC): The Bluejays are on an eight-match unbeaten streak (6-0-2), including four straight wins and two straight shutouts entering this weekend. Creighton has not lost a match away from Omaha this year, with a 3-0-0 mark in true road matches and a 2-0-0 record in neutral contests. CU has the top defense in the MVC, with a 0.85 goals against average after allowing just 13 goals in 14 games. Sophomore Thomas Gjoesund is Creighton's leading scorer, with five goals in just 10 games played, while he returns to action tonight after sitting out last week's match because of yellow card accumulation. Senior Tony Schmitz and junior Andrei Gotsmanov are tied for the team-lead with 12 points on four goals and four assists each. Tim Walters and Tim Bohnenkamp also have four assists each to help lead the CU offense. CU is having success despite the loss of preseason MAC Hermann Trophy candidate Byron Dacy, who is out for the year with a torn ACL. The CU defense is anchored by sophomores Chris Schuler and Jeff Thayer, along with junior Seth Sinovic. Senior Matt Allen, the only goalkeeper on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, has played every minute in net this year and will set the Creighton school record for minutes played in the fourth minute of Saturday's match.

Scouting Drake (9-4-3, 2-1-1 MVC): The Bulldogs had a seven-match unbeaten streak snapped in a 1-0 loss at Bradley last Saturday. Drake is the highest scoring team in the MVC, scoring 33 goals in 16 matches, led by Garrett Webb's seven. Webb also tops the team with 18 points, with Matt Kuhn leading the Dogs with six assists. DU scored nine goals in its first three MVC games, before getting shutout last week. The Bulldogs have scored at least three goals in five matches this fall. Luke Gorczyca (6 goals) and Kevin Shrout (5 goals) are also offensive threats. Phillip Breuer has made 52 saves, allowed 21 goals and owns a 1.24 goals against average in net for the Dogs.

Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea, 1975) is in his second stint as the Bluejays' head coach with a 164-53-26 (.728) record in his 12th season at CU. His overall record is 357-172-56 (.658) in his 30th year of coaching. Warming, the MVC All-Centennial Coach and the all-time winningest soccer coach at CU, has guided teams to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, is a five-time finalist for National Coach of the Year and is a two-time MVC Coach of the Year. He was named the NSCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2005 and ranked eighth among active Division I coaches in career victories to open the year.

CU-DU Series: The Bluejays are 19-1-5 all-time against the Bulldogs, with the lone Drake win in the series coming in Creighton's last visit to Des Moines in 2005, a 3-2 DU victory behind a Jesse Baker hat trick. The Bluejays topped the Bulldogs 1-0 in Omaha last year. From 2001-03, the teams played three straight overtime contests, two ending in draws. A CU-DU match has not been decided by more than one goal since a 7-0 CU win in 1999.

Minute Man: After the fourth minute of Saturday's game, senior goalkeeper Matt Allen will have played more minutes in net than any keeper in Bluejay history. He enters the week with 5,971 minutes played, just three shy of the school record 5,974 minutes played by Jim Dalla Riva between 1981-84.

Another Allen Record: With back-to-back shutouts over the last two weeks, Matt Allen has tied the school record for shutouts in a career. Allen has 24 shutouts to tie the record Jay Fitzgerald set from 1991-95.

More on Matt!: And yet another achievement by senior goalkeeper Matt Allen. The Omaha native became the third player in school history to win at least 40 games in his career with a 1-0 shutout over Missouri State last week. He is just one win shy of tying current goalkeeper coach Mike Gabb for second on the CU career list.

Thayer Scores: Sophomore Jeff Thayer was a member of the MVC All-Freshman team when he scored four goals and 12 points as a forward last year. This season Thayer has played the majority of the season in the back. Last Saturday he earned on a start in the midfield and scored his first goal of the year and his first career game-winner.

CK Record: After twice previously tying the Morrison Stadium record for corner kicks this season, the Bluejays established a new record for corner kicks in their 1-0 win over Missouri State (Oct. 27). CU attempted 15 corners in the win, trumping the old record of 13, which had been accomplished three times previously.

Go to the Corner: Creighton's record-setting corner kick performance is a continuation of a year-long trend in which the Bluejays are dominating in the CK stat category. CU leads the MVC with 8.4 corner kicks per game and owns a 118-52 edge in corners.

October Success: Since 2002, Creighton is now 34-7-6 (.787) in the month of October, including back-to-back undefeated Octobers in 2002 and 2003. The Bluejays were unbeaten in October (5-0-2) this year.

RPI Numbers: The NCAA released its second RPI list on Oct. 30. Creighton was fifth in the initial RPI report and is now eighth. Notably, CU opponents Indiana (4), Tulsa (15), UCLA (23) and Washington (28) are in the top 30. See the top 10 Below:

NCAA Men's Soccer RPI Top 10
1. Wake Forest 6. Santa Clara
2. Boston College 7. Ohio State
3. Northwestern 8. Creighton
4. Indiana 9. Virginia Tech
5. Brown 10. Connecticut

Speaking of the Top 10: Creighton is ranked in the top 10 in each of the four major polls released for the second straight week. Creighton is ranked eighth in both the NSCAA/adidas and Soccer America top 25, while the Bluejays are sixth in the Soccer Times poll and ninth in the Soccer America and College Soccer News polls.

Time to Turn it Up: Since 2002, the Bluejays' pre-October winning percentage is .677, while their October-on winning percentage since 2002 is now .757, including a 5-0-2 mark this year. See the chart below:

Year Pre-Oct. Oct.-On NCAA
2002 5-2-1 13-2-1 College Cup
2003 3-3-2 9-3-2 Quarterfinals
2004 6-1-0 8-3-2 Third Round
2005 4-1-2 11-4-1 Quarterfinals
2006 6-3-2 7-2-1 First Round
2007 4-1-2 5-0-2 ???
?02-07 28-11-9 53-14-9

Thomas the Tank: Sophomore Thomas Gjoesund became the seventh Bluejay honored with MVC Player of the Week laurels this season when he was tabbed the Offensive POW on Oct. 22 for his play against Western Kentucky and UNC Greensboro. Gjoesund scored three of CU's four goals last week, including both game winners and two tallies in the final 10 minutes of CU's 2-1 win at WKU. He was also named to the National Team of the Week by College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer.

Other Honors: Along with Thomas Gjoesund, the Bluejays have been tabbed MVC Player of the Week seven times this season. The others are ? Offensive: Tim Walters (9/17), Tony Schmitz (10/15); Defensive: Chris Schuler (9/10), Seth Sinovic (9/24, 10/8) and Matt Allen (10/15).

Regular-Season Home Finales: CU has a habit of wrapping up the season at home in style, now with a 17-1-0 record in its final regular-season home match of the year since 1990. CU's only loss in that span was a 2-1 loss to No. 4 SMU in 2002. The Jays have out-scored their opposition 50-10 in those contests, while posting 10 shutouts in the 18 matches. CU has now won 1-0 in its last three Senior Day's after defeating MIssouri State last week.

Foreign Connection: Nine of Creighton's 24 goals this year have come from players not born in the United States. Leading goal-scorer Thomas Gjoesund is a native of Norway, as the Scandinavian has five goals after scoring three in two games last week. Andrei Gotsmanov was born in Belarus, before moving to the US with his family and attending high school in Minnesota. Gotsmanov has four goals and four assists to co-lead the Bluejays with 12 points.

Long Time With Lone Loss: Creighton has just one loss through its first 14 matches. The last time the Jays went this deep into a season without two losses was the 1993 team which opened the year 19-0-0.

That's a Winner: Thomas Gjoesund scored back-to-back game-winning goals for the Bluejays last week, as he became the first CU player to notch more than one game-winner this year. Through CU's first six wins, six different players accounted for the game-winning goal. Gjoesund now has a team-leading three game-winning goals.

Attendance Figures: Creighton is on pace to shatter its average home attendance record of 2,015 set in 2004. The Jays are averaging 3,117 fans through nine home matches this season. While the NCAA does not release attendance figures until the end of the season, an unofficial look around the country shows Creighton leading the nation in average attendance.

NCAA Attendance Leaders (as of 10/31)
1. Creighton - 3,117
2. Connecticut - 2,922
3. Duke - 2,866
4. Saint Louis - 2,651
5. Indiana - 2,455

Home Sweet Morrison: The Bluejays are now 35-6-10 (.784) all-time, including 4-1-4 this year. Since 1990, the Bluejays are 137-22-15 at home. The Bluejays are 51-4-3 at home all-time in Missouri Valley Conference play, including 16-1-2 at Morrison Stadium. CU's lone Valley loss at Morrison Stadium was a 1-0 defeat to No. 17 SMU on Oct. 1, 2004. Since then, the Bluejays have gone unbeaten in their last 13 MVC regular-season home matches. The Jays have ranked in the top-10 in the nation in attendance in all four years that Morrison Stadium has been open.

Fantastic Fanatics: Bluejay soccer fans continue to turn out in record numbers, as CU's match with Tulsa on Sept. 22 drew 4,023. The 4,023 fans ranked as the sixth-highest game attendance in school history and it follows up CU's last home match which drew a record 5,812 to see UCLA on Sept. 8.

Top Six Creighton Home Crowds
1 ? 5,812 vs. UCLA, Sept. 8, 2007
2 ? 5,743 vs. Stanford (Exh.), Aug. 26, 2005
3 ? 4,407 vs. Saint Louis, Aug. 31, 1997
4 ? 4,345 vs. Virginia (Exh.), Aug. 28, 1993
5 ? 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 2004
6 ? 4,023 vs. Tulsa, Sept. 22, 2007

Top Five Morrison Stadium Crowds
1 ? 5,812 vs. UCLA, Sept. 8, 2007
2 ? 5,743 vs. Stanford (Exh.), Aug. 26, 2005
3 ? 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 2004
4 ? 4,023 vs. Tulsa, Sept. 22, 2007
5 ? 3,746 vs. Georgetown, Sept. 1, 2006

Holy Schmitz: Senior Tony Schmitz scored the game-winning goal against Eastern Illinois with just 0.4 seconds showing on the clock in double overtime on Oct. 13. He also scored the equalizer in CU's 2-2 draw with Bradley on Oct. 1.

We're Even: Half of Creighton's 14 matches this season have gone into overtime, with the Jays owning a 3-0-4 mark in extra time. Last year's squad played seven overtime matches in its first 12 contests en route to setting a school record with eight overtime matches played. This year, the Bluejays have already tied the school record for draws in a season with four, established by the 2003 team. All four of CU's draws have come at home, as the Bluejays have now recorded 10 ties at Morrison Stadium since the venue opened in 2003. Prior to 2003, the Bluejays had just five home draws combined between 1990 and 2002. The Jays are now 17-10-26 all-time under Bob Warming in overtime games.

Hawaii Two-O: Hawaii native Jeremy Wittig (jersey No. 20) scored his first career goal and added his first career assist in Creighton's 2-2 draw with Bradley (Oct. 10). The redshirt freshman headed in CU's first goal in the 29th minute and then assisted on Tony Schmitz's goal in the 57th minute. Making the night all the more special for Wittig, his family had traveled from Hawaii to watch the match.

Oh Shoot: Andrei Gotsmanov led a record-setting night against Bradley (Oct. 10). The junior unleashed 10 shots to set the CU record for shots at Morrison Stadium and tie the venue record set by Alejandro Bedoya of Fairleigh Dickinson (vs. Missouri State on Sept. 1, 2006). CU's 28 shots against BU also established a school record for shots at Morrison Stadium and fell one shy FDU's record set against MSU that same day. Gotsmanov has established a Morrison Stadium record for shots in a season, with 38 shots attempted at home this year.

Battling the Best: Creighton's win over second-ranked Indiana (Sept. 13) was the Bluejays' best win against a top 25 team since topping No. 2 SMU in 2000. The win improved the Bluejays to 5-5-1 all-time against teams ranked in the top-five of the coaches poll. CU is 2-0-1 against NSCAA top 25 teams this year, while also playing to a scoreless draw with No. 11 UCLA (Sept. 8) and defeating No. 24 Washington 2-1 on Sept. 29. The Bluejays are now 8-1-1 against NSCAA top 25 teams at Morrison Stadium and 18-8-2 against top 25 teams at home all-time. CU owns a 46-37-9 mark all-time against the coaches top 25.

Dacy Has Surgery: Junior forward Byron Dacy will undergo surgery to repair his torn left ACL. Dacy suffered the injury in the 13th minutes of CU's exhibition match with Ohio State on Aug. 18. He attempted to rehabilitate the knee and played in two regular-season matches - two minutes against UCLA (Sept. 8) and 19 minutes against Loyola Marymount (Sept. 15). He scored the game-winning goal in overtime against LMU. His surgery took place Oct. 10.

Go Gjoesund: Thomas Gjoesund's first career goal was a memorable one against No. 24 Washington (Sept. 29). The defender-turned-attacker scored the game-winning goal in overtime, as his direct free kick was blasted past the UW keeper to give CU a 2-1 win in the 98th minute. The sophomore had played just 18 minutes off the bench in the match, while playing out of position due to several Bluejay injuries. It was just his 10th career shot in his 22nd career game.

Write the Script: Junior forward Tim Walters enjoyed an outstanding homecoming at the Saint Louis Nike Classic (Sept. 13-15). The St. Louis native scored the game-winning goal against second-ranked Indiana in a 2-1 win (Sept. 13). Making the homecoming all the more special, Tim's father played soccer at IU from 1976-79. Walters was rewarded with his first start as a Bluejay on Sept. 15 and he assisted the game-winning goal in overtime of CU's 1-0 victory over Loyola Marymount. For his efforts in leading CU to the co-championship of the tournament, he was named co-MVP, MVC Offensive Player of the Week and to three national teams of the week.

Three of a Kind: CU's backline of Chris Schuler, Seth Sinovic and Jeff Thayer were each named to the Saint Louis Nike Classic All-Tournament Team (Sept. 13-15) for their efforts in shutting down No. 2 Indiana, 2-1, and shutting out Loyola Marymount. 1-0. Sinovic also earned MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors, one week after Schuler earned the award.

First Comes Last: Tim Bohnenkamp waited until his last year as a Bluejay to record a first. The senior scored the first goal away from Omaha in his career against No. 2 Indiana (Sept. 13). His previous six career goals had all come at Morrison Stadium. The Omaha native has enjoyed playing in his hometown throughout his career, as 26 of his 34 career points have come at Morrison Stadium.

Andrei the Giant: Junior Andrei Gotsmanov paid immediate dividends in his first weekend at Creighton, scoring CU's first game-winning goal of the year and notching a multiple goal match in the Jays' 3-0 win over Green Bay. The multiple goal match was the fourth of Gotsmanov's career, after recording two hat tricks and a two-goal match at St. John's as a freshman in 2004 (his only other year of collegiate competition).

Preseason Favorites: The Bluejays are the Missouri Valley Conference preseason favorites for the third straight year, according to a vote of league coaches. The Jays received five of the seven first-place votes and 47 of the possible 49 points in the poll. CU will be aiming for back-to-back regular-season titles for the first time since winning five straight from 1992-96.

Rookie Watch: Freshmen Andrew Duran and Tucker Sindlinger have been named among the Top 100 Freshmen to Watch by CollegeSoccerNews.com. Duran, a two-time prep All-American, was named the NSCAA National Player of the Year last season as a midfielder at Lincoln-Way (Ill.) East High. Sindlinger, a forward from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has extensive international playing experience as part of the Region II Olympic Development Program.

National Player of the Year Candidates: Senior goalkeeper Matt Allen and junior forward Byron Dacy have been named to the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, annually given to the top soccer player in Division I. Allen enters this season on pace to set CU career records for shutouts and minutes played. Dacy has led the team in scoring in each of his first two seasons, but will miss the remainder of this year due to a torn ACL suffered in the preseason. Allen joins Dacy on the long list of National Player of the Year candidates from Creighton, including the 1997 winner and current manager, Johnny Torres.

CU National Player of the Year Candidates
Year Player
2007 Byron Dacy & Matt Allen
2006 Byron Dacy
2004 Julian Nash
2003 David Wagenfuhr
2002 Mike Tranchilla
2001 Mike Tranchilla
1997 Johnny Torres (Won)
1996 Ross Paule
1993 Keith DeFini & Brian Kamler

Homecoming: Two former Bluejay standouts have returned to the Bluejay bench this season. Mike Gabb, a two-time College Cup participant and CU goalkeeper from 1998-2002, has returned as an assistant coach working with the keepers. Two-time National Player of the Year and CU Athletics Hall of Famer Johnny Torres is back as an undergraduate manager as he finishes his degree. Torres, arguably the greatest player in school and league history, played at CU from 1994-97 and played professionally for the past 10 years.

Related Videos