No. 16 Bluejays Play LMU and No. 2 Indiana in Saint Louis Tournament

#16 Creighton vs. #2 Indiana at Saint Louis Nike Classic
Thursday, Sept. 13, 5 p.m. ? St. Louis, Mo.
#16 Creighton vs. Loyola Marymount at Saint Louis Nike Classic
Saturday, Sept. 15, 12 p.m. ? St. Louis, Mo.

Following the Jays: Live stats for both matches at the Saint Louis Nike Classic can be found on the Saint Louis University athletics website at www.slubillikens.com.

This Week: The 16th-ranked Bluejays travel away from home for the first time this season as they will play a pair of neutral site matches at the Saint Louis Nike Classic. The Jays will take on perennial national power and second-ranked Indiana on Thursday at 5 p.m. Creighton then takes on Loyola Marymount on Saturday at noon.

Last Week: Creighton posted a shutout over 11th-ranked UCLA, but was also kept off the scoreboard in a scoreless draw against the Bruins last Saturday in Omaha. The Jays and Bruins played in front of a school record 5,812 fans at Morrison Stadium. Chris Schuler was honored as the MVC Defensive Player of the Week for his role in the shutout.

Scouting Creighton (1-0-2): The Bluejays are the defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament champions and have been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the conference again this year. The Jays return 13 letterwinners and five starters from last year's 13-5-3 team which advanced to its 15th straight NCAA Tournament. For the eighth time in the last nine years, the Bluejays are undefeated through their first three matches of the season. As expected, newcomers have played a large role in the first two weeks of the season. Three freshmen have earned starts, while junior transfer Andrei Gotsmanov has started all three matches and tops the team with two goals and 14 shots. The Jays have posted two shutouts in their first three matches for a 0.58 goals against average, while they own an impressive 30-9 edge in corner kicks through three contests. Junior forward Byron Dacy and senior goalkeeper Matt Allen are both on the preseason MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. Dacy has led the team in scoring in each of his first two seasons on campus, but missed the first two matches and played just two minutes against UCLA as he continues to rehab a torn left ACL in an attempt to play regular minutes this season. Allen, the 2006 MVC Defensive Player of the Year, ranks second in CU history with 21 shutouts and a 0.82 goals against average in his career. He is 89 minutes shy of becoming the fourth keeper in CU history to play 5,000 career minutes and is on pace to set the school record for minutes played.

Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea, 1975) is in his second stint as the Bluejays' head coach with a 156-52-24 (.724) record in his 12th season at CU. His overall record is 349-171-54 (.655) 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 NCAA Division I coaches in career victories to open the year.

Scouting Indiana (3-0-1): The Hoosiers have won three straight matches after opening with a 1-1 tie with then ninth-ranked Maryland. IU followed the draw with wins over UCLA, Northern Illinois and Rhode Island. IU has allowed just two goals through its first four matches for a 0.47 goals against average, as keeper Chay Cain has stopped 20 shots in net. Kevin Noschang leads the team with three goals, seven points and 12 shots.

CU-IU Series: The Bluejays and Hoosiers have met four times on the pitch, with each team winning two meetings. Indiana topped Creighton 1-0 in double overtime to open the 2006 season. The Jays twice defeated Indiana in 2000, a 4-1 win in the regular-season and a 2-1 triple overtime thriller in the national semifinals. IU won the first meeting between the teams, 1-0, in 1994. The previous three meetings have all been at neutral sites, with the initial matchup being held at IU.

Scouting LMU (1-2-0): The Lions have alternated wins and losses this season, opening with a 2-0 home loss to Cal Poly, then winning 1-0 at No. 24 New Mexico, before falling 1-0 to Central Florida. Patrick Lane has played every minute in net for LMU, logging a 1.00 GAA with 11 saves and three goals allowed. Brad Stisser has scored the only Lion goal through three matches and he tops the team with seven shots.

CU-LMU Series: The Jays and Lions have split two previous meetings, with each team winning on the others home pitch. The Bluejays won 2-1 in double overtime in Los Angeles in 2003, while LMU returned the favor with a 2-1 win in Omaha in 2004.

Poll Position: The Bluejays jumped nine spots in this week's NSCAA/adidas top 25, up to 16th in the coaches poll. The Bluejays are as high as 14th as voted on in the Soccer Times poll, remaining at No. 22 in the College Soccer News top 30 and slipping to No. 18 in the Soccer America poll this week.

Battling the Best: Creighton's match against No. 2 Indiana on Thursday will mark the highest ranked opponent for the Bluejays since the 2001 season when they twice played No. 1 SMU. It will be the second straight match against an NSCAA top 25 team, after playing to a scoreless draw with No. 11 UCLA last Saturday. Last year the Bluejays were 1-2-0 against teams in the NSCAA/adidas poll, topping 17th-ranked Memphis, but falling to Indiana (12) and Notre Dame (15). In 2005, CU went 5-1-0 against the NSCAA top 25. The Jays are 44-37-9 all-time against the coaches top 25, including 17-8-2 at home and 7-1-1 at Morrison Stadium.

Broken Record: Creighton established a school record for attendance against UCLA last Saturday, bringing in 5,812 fans to watch the top 25 match up. The previous school and Morrison Stadium record for attendance was 5,743 against Stanford on Aug. 26, 2005 in an exhibition match. The new record tops the former regular-season record by more than 1,400 as the previous in-season best was 4,407 against Saint Louis on Aug. 31, 1997.

Top Three 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

Top Three 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

Third Time's a Charm: Sophomore Chris Schuler was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week for the third time in his career when he earned the honor after anchoring the Bluejays' shutout of 11th-ranked UCLA last Saturday. He used his 6-foot-4 frame to clear balls in the air and also had outstanding challenges on the ground to limit the Bruins to just three shots on goal in CU's second straight shutout.

Byron's Back: Junior forward Byron Dacy returned to the pitch for game competition just three weeks after he tore his left ACL. The Omaha native wore a large brace and played just under two minutes in Creighton's scoreless draw with UCLA on Sept. 8. The member of the MAC Hermann Trophy Preseason Watch List is expected to see limited minutes this weekend in an attempt to test the injured knee. If it holds up, Dacy will likely play this season and delay surgery until after the season. Should it not perform, Dacy would likely shut down for the season, have surgery and apply for a medical redshirt.

Matt's Milestones: Senior goalkeeper Matt Allen moved into the Creighton career top five in saves last Saturday. His three stops against UCLA gave him 192 in his career, to rank fifth, just four behind current keeper coach Mike Gabb. Allen is just 89 minutes away from becoming the fourth Bluejay keeper in school history to play 5,000 minutes in his career.

Transfer Time: A trio of Bluejay transfers helped guide Creighton to its first victory of the season against Green Bay (Sept. 2). In his first season at Creighton, junior transfer Andrei Gotsmanov scored twice and unloaded six shots in the 3-0 win. Gotsmanov led St. John's in scoring as a freshman in 2004 in his only other season of collegiate soccer. Junior Tim Walters, playing in his second year at Creighton after spending his rookie campaign at Kentucky, scored his first goal as a Bluejay in the win as well. On the defensive side, it was Indiana transfer Chris Schuler who helped guide the Bluejays to the shutout. Schuler earned freshman All-America honors as a Bluejay last year after redshirting at Indiana in 2005.

Introductions in Order: Six Creighton players saw action as a Bluejay for the first time during opening weekend, including four which earned starts. Junior transfer Andrei Gotsmanov and freshmen Tucker Sindlinger and Andrew Duran each started both matches, while rookie Sergio Castillo earned the starting nod in the second match of the season. Gotsmanov contributed two goals, while Sindlinger assisted both scores. Redshirt freshman Jeremy Wittig also saw playing time in both matches, while junior Colin Campbell ? now in his fourth season with the program ? saw the pitch during game action for the first time in his career, participating in both contests.

Got Gotsmanov?: The Bluejays do. 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). The Belarus native tops the team with 14 shots.

Go to the Corner: Creighton tied a Morrison Stadium record with 13 corner kicks in its season-opener against San Diego State (Aug. 31). The Jays tied their own record which was established against Illinois-Chicago on Oct. 5, 2005. CU has out-worked its opponents 30-9 on corner kicks this season.

Goose Eggs for Allen: Senior goalkeeper Matt Allen and the Bluejay defense have posted back-to-back shutouts in CU's last two matches giving Allen 21 career clean slates. He now ranks second in school history with his 21 shutouts, just three shy of the record held by Jay Fitzgerald.

Home Cooking: Senior Tim Bohnenkamp added to his own Morrison Stadium record with his 13th career assist at home in CU's win over Green Bay (Sept. 2). The Omaha native has enjoyed playing in his hometown throughout his career, as 25 of his 29 career points have come at Morrison Stadium.

Home Sweet Morrison: Creighton is 1-0-2 at home this season, improving to 32-5-8 (.800) all-time at Morrison Stadium. Since 1990, the Bluejays are 134-21-12 at home. The Jays have ranked in the top-10 in the nation in attendance in all four years that Morrison Stadium has been open. The Jays are averaging 4,002 fans through their first three matches of the season.

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. 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.

For Starters: The Bluejays return five players which started at least 13 of CU's 21 matches last year and four others which earned the starting nod in at least eight matches. Senior goalkeeper Matt Allen earned 20 starts, most among returners, while senior captain Tony Schmitz and sophomore Chris Schuler started 19 contests. Sophomore defender Thomas Gjoesund (14) and junior forward Byron Dacy (13) round out the five returning starters. The Bluejays lost six starters from last year's team, including MVC Player of the Year Michael Kraus and three others which earned all-conference honors.

Exhibition Recap: Creighton, ranked in the top 25 of three national preseason polls, played just one exhibition match, tying Ohio State 2-2 at home on Aug. 18. CU twice trailed and twice scored the equalizer, with senior Sam Eid providing the first goal and redshirt freshman Jeremy Wittig scoring the second goal in the 88th minute to even the match up. No overtime was played. Preseason National Player of the Year Candidate Matt Allen made five saves in goal for CU, while the Bluejays' other representative on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, Byron Dacy, did not fare as well. Dacy was injured in the 13th minute, suffering a torn left ACL. He will miss at least three weeks before being re-evaluated at that time.

Last Season in Short: Creighton finished the 2006 season with a 13-5-3 record, after losing a first-round NCAA Tournament match at Washington, 3-0. The tournament appearance was Creighton's 15th straight, as they are one of just five teams in Division I to have appeared in each of the last 15 NCAA Tournaments. The Bluejays won both the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles last year, while they also had the MVC Player of the Year (Michael Kraus) and MVC Defensive Player of the Year (Matt Allen). Allen returns this year, as does the MVC Tournament MVP Byron Dacy and Freshman All-American Chris Schuler. Dacy topped the team with six assists and 16 points last year, while Kraus, who now plays in the MLS with the Kansas City Wizards, led the team with six goals, including five game-winners.

No. 16 Bluejays Play LMU and No. 2 Indiana in Saint Louis Tournament

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