Creighton University
UMKC
UMKC Stuns No. 3 Men's Soccer, 1-0
9/13/2008 8:00:00 PM | Men's Soccer
OMAHA, Neb. -- A goal by Brian Harris in the 16th minute was all the scoring UMKC would need to post a 1-0 upset of the No. 3 Creighton men's soccer team Saturday night at Morrison Stadium. Creighton lost despite out-shooting UMKC by an overwhelming 22-3 margin.
UMKC improved to 2-1-2 with the victory, while Creighton fell from the ranks of the unbeaten and is now 3-1-0. UMKC had been 1-8-1 in 10 previous meetings with the Bluejays.
"I thought the last 70 minutes of the game were terrific and I was proud of the guys for how they played in that span," said head coach Bob Warming following his team's first loss of the year. "Unfortunately games are 90 minutes long and we were just too casual in the opening 20 minutes and allowed them to score on their only chance of the night.
"It's a learning process with a young team and now they know we have to play a full 90 and not 70 minutes. That's the frustrating thing about soccer, a team can have just one shot and win the game."
Matt Kopsky set up the first goal of the match at the 15:52 mark with a nifty chip over the Bluejay defense that Harris headed in for his team-high third goal of the year. It marked Creighton's first deficit of the young season, and snapped a shutout string of 232:44 for redshirt freshman keeper Brian Holt. As it turned out, the senior forward's goal would be all UMKC would need.
Creighton's best scoring chance of the opening half came in the 38th minute, when Byron Dacy's redirected header went just over the crossbar and landed on the top of the net. Creighton outshot UMKC 6-2 in the opening half, only to trail at the break for the first time since Oct. 17, 2007 at Western Kentucky, a span of 13 games.
Creighton's Seth Sinovic had an open shot on net with just more than two minutes to play in regulation on a give-and-go from Andrei Gotsmanov, only to miss his attempt wide. Gotsmanov also sent a well-placed corner kick into the box with 80 seconds to play, but Andrew Duran's redirection went wide left as well.
The Jays turned up the intensity, as the Kangaroos packed it in on defense in the second half. The Jays out-shot the Kangaroos 16-1 in the second half, but could not find the back of the net.
Creighton returns to action on Friday with its first road weekend of the year as it travels to the Bay Area to take on a pair of Pac-10 schools. The Jays take on Stanford this Friday in a nationally televised match. The match, which will kick off at 10 p.m. (CST), will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel. CU then plays sixth-ranked California on Sunday.
NOTES: Creighton had not allowed a first half goal at home since October 13, 2007 against Eastern Illinois, a streak of 333:58 that also came to an end ... Attendance was 2,202, including a large turnout from the Creighton student body ... Dacy had nine shots off the bench for Creighton, one shy of the Morrison Stadium record.
