Men's Soccer Heads to California for Pair of Pac-10 Clashes
9/16/2008 3:45:00 PM | Men's Soccer
#12 Creighton at Stanford on Fox Soccer Channel
Friday, Sept. 19, 10:00 p.m. (CST) ? Cagan Stadium ? Stanford, Calif.
#12 Creighton at #6 California
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2:00 p.m. (CST) ? Edwards Stadium ? Berkeley, Calif.
This Week: The Bluejays, who have not lost away from Omaha since 2006, travel to the Bay Area to take on a pair of Pac-10 foes, Stanford and sixth-ranked California. The Jays play the Cardinal Friday at 10 p.m., in a match televised live nationally on Fox Soccer Channel. Creighton then plays at Cal on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Following the Jays: Live stats for Friday night's match at Stanford can be found by following the links at www.gocreighton.com. Friday's match will also be televised live nationally on Fox Soccer Channel (Cox Digital Cable channel 228 in Omaha). Live stats will not be available for Sunday's contest at California.
Last Week: Creighton wrapped up its season-opening four-game home stand with a 1-0 loss to UMKC last Saturday, its first defeat of the year. The Bluejay defense allowed only three shots, out-shooting the Kangaroos 22-3, but UMKC's goal in the 16th minute proved all it would need to pull off the upset at Morrison Stadium in Omaha.
Scouting Creighton (3-1-0): The 12th-ranked Bluejays are the defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season co-champions and have been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the conference again this year. Through four games the Bluejays have out-scored their opponents 9-2, with six different players scoring at least one goal and nine different players recording at least one assist. Creighton has out-shot its opponents 68-21 this year, not allowing more than eight shots in a match, and allowing a combined seven shots in its last two contests. Senior Andrei Gotsmanov, junior Jeff Thayer and freshman Ethan Finlay have each scored two goals a piece, while Thayer leads the team with six points. Gotsmanov, a midfielder, is joined by junior forward Byron Dacy on the preseason MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. Dacy, who redshirted last year because of a torn left ACL, leads the team with 17 shots and has a goal and an assist in his first four games back. Preseason All-American junior defender Chris Schuler joins Gotsmanov, Dacy and senior midfielder Seth Sinovic on the all-MVC preseason team. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brian Holt has played all 360 minutes in net this year, stopping six shots while logging two shutouts and a 0.50 goals against average.
Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea, 1975) is in his second stint as the Bluejays' head coach with a 170-56-27 (.725) record in his 13th season at CU. His overall record is 363-175-57 (.658) in his 31st year of coaching. Warming, the MVC All-Centennial Coach and the all-time winningest soccer coach at CU, has guided teams to 14 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 sixth among active Division I coaches in career victories to open this season.
Scouting Stanford (2-1-1): The Cardinal have posted wins over Cornell and San Francisco this season after opening the year 0-1-1. Stanford has been out-shot 53-37 through four matches and tallied just four goals. Bobby Warshaw has half of Stanford's goals on the year, while Ryan Thomas has dished two assists for the Cardinal attack. Goalkeeper John Moore has played all 380 minutes in net, made 19 saves, logged two shutouts and posted a 0.71 goals against average. Stanford was 7-6-5 last year and is tabbed to finish third in the six-team Pac-10 this year.
Scouting California (3-0-2): The sixth-ranked Bears (as high as No. 3 in some polls) are the preseason favorites in the Pac-10 after a 12-6-2 campaign last year. Cal is coming off consecutive 1-1 ties, with No. 2 SMU and always dangerous Santa Clara. Four different Bears have scored at least two goals, while Cal has out-scored its opposition 11-3 on the year. Andrew Wiedeman leads the team with seven points (2 g, 3 a), while Hector Jimenez has dished four assists to top the team. Stefan Frei has made 16 saves, allowed three goals and owns a 0.57 goals against average in net.
CU-Stanford Series: Friday will mark the fifth time Creighton and Stanford have met on the pitch, with each team winning twice in the previous four meetings. CU won the first two meetings with Stanford, while Stanford has won the last two clashes, including an NCAA College Cup semifinal match-up in 2002, which the Cardinal won 2-1 in double overtime. This is just the second meeting at Stanford, the Cardinal won the first, 2-0 in 1998. Current Stanford head coach Bret Simon was Creighton's head coach in the first three meetings of the series and then topped his former team in the 2002 meeting.
CU-California Series: The Jays and Bears have met just once before, a 2-1 overtime win for Creighton on Oct. 2, 1998 on a neutral field at Stanford.
Road Trip: Creighton heads out on its first road trip of the season this weekend as the only team in the nation to not have lost away from home since the start of the 2007 season. The Bluejays went 6-0-1 away from Omaha last year (4-0-1 in road games and 2-0-0 at neutral sites). Brown was the only other team to go unbeaten away from home last year, at 5-0-1, but the Bears have already lost two road games this year. CU's last road loss came in its final game of the 2006 season, an NCAA Tournament loss at Washington.
Part of the Family: Creighton will see a familiar face on the opposing bench Friday night as former Bluejay head coach Bret Simon will do battle with his former employer. Simon was an assistant coach at CU under Bob Warming in 1993-94 and then led the Jays to a 96-86-8 (.769) record between 1995-2000, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament every year and two trips to the College Cup (1996, 2000). Simon is married to Creighton Athletics Hall of Famer, the former Pam Gradoville, who is the second-leading scorer and top rebounder in CU women's basketball history. In fact, Simon's wife was coached by current Creighton athletic director, Bruce Rasmussen, on the Bluejay women's basketball team.
Pac-10 Powers: The Bluejays will play a pair of Pac-10 foes this weekend at Stanford and sixth-ranked California. The Jays went 1-0-2 against the Pac-10 last year, with all three matches played in Omaha. Creighton is 5-3-3 against the Pac-10 since Bob Warming returned to Omaha in 2001. CU's last two wins and its last loss against the conference all came against Washington. CU's last road win at a Pac-10 school came in 2002, also against the Huskies, while its 2006 match at UW is its only other Pac-10 road contest since 2002.
TV Time: For the second straight season, the Bluejays have been chosen by the NSCAA to appear on Fox Soccer Channel's game of the week. This Friday at 10 p.m. (CST) the Bluejays will kick off live at Stanford on the soccer network. Last year, CU's MVC opening home match against Bradley was also on FSC (a 2-2 tie). The Jays will again appear on national television this season when their home match against Cal State Northridge on Oct. 1 is broadcast on CBS College Sports.
Poll Position: Creighton slipped to No. 12 in the NSCAA/adidas poll following its first loss of the year. The Jays are ranked eight by Soccer Times and College Soccer News, while they dropped to 11th in the Soccer America poll. TopDrawerSoccer.com's 48-team NCAA prediction poll also has the Jays ranked eighth.
High Flyers: Creighton's No. 3 ranking in the NSCAA/adidas poll on Sept. 8 was the highest the Bluejays had been ranked in the regular-season since the 2000 team, which finished as the NCAA runners-up, was ranked third on Sept. 18. The Jays were then ranked second in the 2000 postseason poll and the 2001 preseason poll, but had not been this high since.
Battling the Best: Creighton takes on its first ranked opponent of the year at California on Sunday. The Jays went 3-0-1 against NSCAA top 25 teams last year. CU owns a 47-37-9 mark all-time against the coaches top 25, including 20-15-6 in true road games against ranked foes. The Jays are 6-1-1 in their last eight true road meetings with top 25 teams and have not faced a ranked team on the road since the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
California Dreamin: Creighton's trip to California this weekend is its first since making two trips to the state and playing three double overtime games in 2003. The last time CU played in California was a 1-1 tie at San Diego on Nov. 22, 2003 in the NCAA Tournament. The Jays advanced 5-3 on PKs against USD. Earlier that season, the Jays played at a tournament hosted by Loyola Marymount, tying Santa Clara 0-0 and falling to LMU 2-1 in double overtime.
The L Word: Loss that is. Creighton suffered its first defeat of the season last weekend, a 1-0 loss to UMKC. CU lost just once in the regular-season last year, also a September home loss. The Jays have not lost back-to-back games since the first two contests of the 2006 season when they lost to No. 12 Indiana and No. 15 Notre Dame at a tournament hosted by the Irish.
Golden State Bluejays: Creighton has four native Californians on its roster this season, including a pair from the Bay Area. Freshman Kris Clark and redshirt freshman Alex Zanotto are both from Santa Clara County. Sophomore Sergio Castillo is from Escondido and redshirt frosh Nick Goldreich hails from Pasadena.
Early Arrivals: In Creighton's 2-0 win over UC Riverside (Sept. 7), both Bluejay goals were scored by true freshmen. However this isn't the first semester on the CU campus for either rookie, as both Ethan Finlay and Greg Jordan graduated high school early and joined the Bluejays for training in the spring semester. Their early arrival has paid dividends already, as both have started all four matches, and Finlay scored both game-winning goals on the Sept.5-7 weekend. Jordan recorded an assist and goal against UCR, in addition to his stellar defensive midfield play which contributed to a pair of Bluejay shutouts. Both were honored on the Diadora Challenge All-Tournament Team and Finlay was named to Soccer America's National Team of the Week.
Offensive Output: Creighton's four goals in its season opener were the most since 2004, while the Bluejays followed with three goals in their second game. The seven goals through two games were the most for the Jays since the 1992 team poured in 13 goals in its first two matches.
No Shots For You: The Bluejay defense did not allow a shot on goal in their 2-0 win over UC Riverside (Sept. 7), marking the first time since 2005 that the Jays limited their opponent to zero shots on goal in a game. CU held Missouri State to no shots on goal in a 2-0 win on Oct. 12, 2005. UCR managed only four total shots in the game, followed by just three attempts by UMKC last Saturday, the fewest by a Bluejay foe since Brown attempted only three shots against CU on Sept. 19, 2003.
Dacy's Digits: After missing all but two games due to a torn ACL last year, junior Byron Dacy scored his first goal of the season against Portland (Sept. 5). The forward attempted and converted the second penalty kick of his career to get in the scoring column. With his assist in CU's season-opener and a goal against Portland, the Jays are now 2-0-0 when Dacy records a point this year and are 21-2-0 since 2005 when he registers a point.
Transferring Starts: Junior Akin Akinrinade and sophomore Kyle Deremer have both started every game of their collegiate careers, although they have started just four games for the Bluejays. Akinrinade started 29 matches in playing his first two seasons at Central Florida, while Deremer started all 18 matches he played in as a freshman for the Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels last year.
Home Sweet Morrison: The Bluejays are now 40-9-10 (.763) all-time at Morrison Stadium, including a 3-1-0 mark this year. Since 1990, the Bluejays are 142-25-15 (.821) at home. CU is 51-4-3 at home all-time in MVC 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. The Jays have ranked in the top-10 in the nation in attendance all five years that Morrison Stadium has been open.
Thayer of Omaha: Junior forward Jeff Thayer, an Omaha native, scored three goals in 2007, all of which were game winners. While he hasn't scored a game-winner this year, he's already two-thirds of the way to last season's goal total and he's already equalled last year's assist total through four games. He notched his first career multiple-goal match against Gonzaga (Aug. 29). For his efforts against Gonzaga, he was honored on the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.
First Things First: Freshman Kris Clark and sophomore Andrew Duran teamed up with Jeff Thayer on the final goal of the match against Gonzaga (Aug. 29). Duran and Clark both were credited with their first career assists on Thayer's second goal of the match. Sophomore Tucker Sindlinger recorded his first game-winning goal in the win as well.
Fantastic Fanatics: For the third time in school history, more than 4,000 fans turned out for a Bluejay regular-season home match, as 4,071 fans showed up for Creighton's season-opener. The Jays followed with over 3,000 fans for their second game to give the Bluejays two of the largest 10 crowds in all of college soccer through two weekends of play. The 4,071 fans ranks as the third-largest regular-season home crowd and the fifth-largest crowd in CU home history (including exhibitions).
Top Five 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 ? 4,071 vs. Gonzaga, Aug. 29, 2008
Top Five Morrison Stadium Crowds
1 ? 5,812 vs. UCLA, Sept. 8, 2007
2 ? 5,743 vs. Stanford (Exh.), Aug. 26, 2005
3 ? 4,071 vs. Gonzaga, Aug. 29, 2008
3 ? 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 2004
4 ? 4,023 vs. Tulsa, Sept. 22, 2007
Home-Opening Attendance: Bluejay fans typically make the home-opener a highly-attended contest. Since moving to Morrison Stadium in 2003, the average attendance at CU home-openers is now 3,306, following the crowd of 4,071 that attended this season's home-opener.
Keeping Keepers: There is no doubt experience in goal helps, but there is proof in Creighton's past that demonstrates that experience isn't necessary for success. This season the Bluejays return zero career minutes in goal, with three redshirt freshmen goalkeepers on the roster. The Jays have never previously returned zero minutes in net. In fact, both previous times CU returned 202 career minutes in goal or fewer, it reached the College Cup.
The fewest career goalkeeping minutes the Jays have returned prior to this season came during the 2000 campaign. Mike Gabb had played 179 career minutes before the 2000 season, a year the Bluejays would lead the NCAA with 22 wins and appear in the NCAA championship match. The second-fewest minutes the Jays have returned came in 1996, when Jon Epperson entered the year with 202 career minutes. He helped lead the Bluejays to their first College Cup Final Four that season.
National Player of the Year Candidates: For the second straight season, two Bluejays have been placed on the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List, a preseason list for the award annually given to the top soccer player in Division I. Junior Byron Dacy is on the preseason watch list for the third straight year, even after playing just two matches and redshirting last year because of a torn ACL. Senior Andrei Gotsmanov, who led the team with six goals and 17 points last year, joins Dacy on the list. Last year, Matt Allen was nominated along with Dacy to begin the season. Gotsmanov and Dacy are now on the long list of National Player of the Year candidates from Creighton, including the 1997 winner and current assistant coach, Johnny Torres.
CU National Player of the Year Candidates
Year Player
2008 Byron Dacy & Andrei Gotsmanov
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
Senior Citizens: Creighton has three seniors ? Andrei Gotsmanov, Seth Sinovic, Tim Walters ? listed on its roster this season, the fewest since the 1998 team also had just three seniors on the squad - Marc Madeley, Richard Mulrooney and Patrick Parker. Gotsmanov and Sinovic demonstrated their senior leadership and ability by combining on the first CU goal of the season this year.
In Attendance: Creighton ranked third in the nation in overall attendance in 2007, while it finished fourth in average attendance last year. The Jays brought in 34,308 fans for an average of 2,639 per game. CU's match against UCLA last year drew a school-record 5,812 fans, while two other 2007 crowds ranked in the CU top-10.
Preseason Favorites: The Missouri Valley Conference coaches have tabbed the Bluejays as preseason favorites for the fourth straight season. CU received five of the six first-place votes to total 35 points. Evansville is picked to finish second with 27 points, while Missouri State picked up the other first-place vote, despite being picked to finish last in the league.
Nine Newcomers: CU's incoming class of nine players ? six true freshmen and three transfers ? was ranked as the 16th-best recruiting class in the country according to College Soccer News. The Jays have 12 freshmen on their roster, five of whom redshirted with the Bluejays last year. Junior Akin Akinrinade (Central Florida), sophomore Kyle Deremer (St. Mary's) and freshman Tim Krueger (Hastings) have transferred into the program. Deremer and Krueger were teammates on Millard North's undefeated state championship team in 2007. Akinrinade, Krueger, along with freshmen Greg Jordan and Ethan Finlay all enrolled and trained at Creighton this spring.
Dairy State Products: A pair of freshmen from Wisconsin have been tabbed among “100 Freshmen to Keep an Eye On” according to College Soccer News. Ethan Finlay and Stew Brown, club teammates for FC Milwaukee, both earned the notice. Finlay was recognized by Rise Magazine as a top-30 national recruit and was an NSCAA Youth All-American, while Brown was an NSCAA High School All-American and named the most outstanding player at the US Youth Soccer National Championships in 2007.
Last Year in Brief: Creighton lost just one regular-season match in 2007 and finished the year with a 12-3-5 record in the third round of the NCAA Tournament - its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA postseason. The Jays ran off an 11-match unbeaten streak during their season, while posting a 4-0-2 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play for their first unbeaten record in MVC play since 1996. CU shared the MVC regular-season crown with Bradley for the second straight year. All-American Matt Allen became the first player in league history to twice be named MVC Defensive Player of the Year, while he wrapped up his career with CU records for minutes played and shutouts.
Friday, Sept. 19, 10:00 p.m. (CST) ? Cagan Stadium ? Stanford, Calif.
#12 Creighton at #6 California
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2:00 p.m. (CST) ? Edwards Stadium ? Berkeley, Calif.
This Week: The Bluejays, who have not lost away from Omaha since 2006, travel to the Bay Area to take on a pair of Pac-10 foes, Stanford and sixth-ranked California. The Jays play the Cardinal Friday at 10 p.m., in a match televised live nationally on Fox Soccer Channel. Creighton then plays at Cal on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Following the Jays: Live stats for Friday night's match at Stanford can be found by following the links at www.gocreighton.com. Friday's match will also be televised live nationally on Fox Soccer Channel (Cox Digital Cable channel 228 in Omaha). Live stats will not be available for Sunday's contest at California.
Last Week: Creighton wrapped up its season-opening four-game home stand with a 1-0 loss to UMKC last Saturday, its first defeat of the year. The Bluejay defense allowed only three shots, out-shooting the Kangaroos 22-3, but UMKC's goal in the 16th minute proved all it would need to pull off the upset at Morrison Stadium in Omaha.
Scouting Creighton (3-1-0): The 12th-ranked Bluejays are the defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season co-champions and have been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the conference again this year. Through four games the Bluejays have out-scored their opponents 9-2, with six different players scoring at least one goal and nine different players recording at least one assist. Creighton has out-shot its opponents 68-21 this year, not allowing more than eight shots in a match, and allowing a combined seven shots in its last two contests. Senior Andrei Gotsmanov, junior Jeff Thayer and freshman Ethan Finlay have each scored two goals a piece, while Thayer leads the team with six points. Gotsmanov, a midfielder, is joined by junior forward Byron Dacy on the preseason MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. Dacy, who redshirted last year because of a torn left ACL, leads the team with 17 shots and has a goal and an assist in his first four games back. Preseason All-American junior defender Chris Schuler joins Gotsmanov, Dacy and senior midfielder Seth Sinovic on the all-MVC preseason team. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brian Holt has played all 360 minutes in net this year, stopping six shots while logging two shutouts and a 0.50 goals against average.
Head Coach: Head coach Bob Warming (Berea, 1975) is in his second stint as the Bluejays' head coach with a 170-56-27 (.725) record in his 13th season at CU. His overall record is 363-175-57 (.658) in his 31st year of coaching. Warming, the MVC All-Centennial Coach and the all-time winningest soccer coach at CU, has guided teams to 14 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 sixth among active Division I coaches in career victories to open this season.
Scouting Stanford (2-1-1): The Cardinal have posted wins over Cornell and San Francisco this season after opening the year 0-1-1. Stanford has been out-shot 53-37 through four matches and tallied just four goals. Bobby Warshaw has half of Stanford's goals on the year, while Ryan Thomas has dished two assists for the Cardinal attack. Goalkeeper John Moore has played all 380 minutes in net, made 19 saves, logged two shutouts and posted a 0.71 goals against average. Stanford was 7-6-5 last year and is tabbed to finish third in the six-team Pac-10 this year.
Scouting California (3-0-2): The sixth-ranked Bears (as high as No. 3 in some polls) are the preseason favorites in the Pac-10 after a 12-6-2 campaign last year. Cal is coming off consecutive 1-1 ties, with No. 2 SMU and always dangerous Santa Clara. Four different Bears have scored at least two goals, while Cal has out-scored its opposition 11-3 on the year. Andrew Wiedeman leads the team with seven points (2 g, 3 a), while Hector Jimenez has dished four assists to top the team. Stefan Frei has made 16 saves, allowed three goals and owns a 0.57 goals against average in net.
CU-Stanford Series: Friday will mark the fifth time Creighton and Stanford have met on the pitch, with each team winning twice in the previous four meetings. CU won the first two meetings with Stanford, while Stanford has won the last two clashes, including an NCAA College Cup semifinal match-up in 2002, which the Cardinal won 2-1 in double overtime. This is just the second meeting at Stanford, the Cardinal won the first, 2-0 in 1998. Current Stanford head coach Bret Simon was Creighton's head coach in the first three meetings of the series and then topped his former team in the 2002 meeting.
CU-California Series: The Jays and Bears have met just once before, a 2-1 overtime win for Creighton on Oct. 2, 1998 on a neutral field at Stanford.
Road Trip: Creighton heads out on its first road trip of the season this weekend as the only team in the nation to not have lost away from home since the start of the 2007 season. The Bluejays went 6-0-1 away from Omaha last year (4-0-1 in road games and 2-0-0 at neutral sites). Brown was the only other team to go unbeaten away from home last year, at 5-0-1, but the Bears have already lost two road games this year. CU's last road loss came in its final game of the 2006 season, an NCAA Tournament loss at Washington.
Part of the Family: Creighton will see a familiar face on the opposing bench Friday night as former Bluejay head coach Bret Simon will do battle with his former employer. Simon was an assistant coach at CU under Bob Warming in 1993-94 and then led the Jays to a 96-86-8 (.769) record between 1995-2000, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament every year and two trips to the College Cup (1996, 2000). Simon is married to Creighton Athletics Hall of Famer, the former Pam Gradoville, who is the second-leading scorer and top rebounder in CU women's basketball history. In fact, Simon's wife was coached by current Creighton athletic director, Bruce Rasmussen, on the Bluejay women's basketball team.
Pac-10 Powers: The Bluejays will play a pair of Pac-10 foes this weekend at Stanford and sixth-ranked California. The Jays went 1-0-2 against the Pac-10 last year, with all three matches played in Omaha. Creighton is 5-3-3 against the Pac-10 since Bob Warming returned to Omaha in 2001. CU's last two wins and its last loss against the conference all came against Washington. CU's last road win at a Pac-10 school came in 2002, also against the Huskies, while its 2006 match at UW is its only other Pac-10 road contest since 2002.
TV Time: For the second straight season, the Bluejays have been chosen by the NSCAA to appear on Fox Soccer Channel's game of the week. This Friday at 10 p.m. (CST) the Bluejays will kick off live at Stanford on the soccer network. Last year, CU's MVC opening home match against Bradley was also on FSC (a 2-2 tie). The Jays will again appear on national television this season when their home match against Cal State Northridge on Oct. 1 is broadcast on CBS College Sports.
Poll Position: Creighton slipped to No. 12 in the NSCAA/adidas poll following its first loss of the year. The Jays are ranked eight by Soccer Times and College Soccer News, while they dropped to 11th in the Soccer America poll. TopDrawerSoccer.com's 48-team NCAA prediction poll also has the Jays ranked eighth.
High Flyers: Creighton's No. 3 ranking in the NSCAA/adidas poll on Sept. 8 was the highest the Bluejays had been ranked in the regular-season since the 2000 team, which finished as the NCAA runners-up, was ranked third on Sept. 18. The Jays were then ranked second in the 2000 postseason poll and the 2001 preseason poll, but had not been this high since.
Battling the Best: Creighton takes on its first ranked opponent of the year at California on Sunday. The Jays went 3-0-1 against NSCAA top 25 teams last year. CU owns a 47-37-9 mark all-time against the coaches top 25, including 20-15-6 in true road games against ranked foes. The Jays are 6-1-1 in their last eight true road meetings with top 25 teams and have not faced a ranked team on the road since the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
California Dreamin: Creighton's trip to California this weekend is its first since making two trips to the state and playing three double overtime games in 2003. The last time CU played in California was a 1-1 tie at San Diego on Nov. 22, 2003 in the NCAA Tournament. The Jays advanced 5-3 on PKs against USD. Earlier that season, the Jays played at a tournament hosted by Loyola Marymount, tying Santa Clara 0-0 and falling to LMU 2-1 in double overtime.
The L Word: Loss that is. Creighton suffered its first defeat of the season last weekend, a 1-0 loss to UMKC. CU lost just once in the regular-season last year, also a September home loss. The Jays have not lost back-to-back games since the first two contests of the 2006 season when they lost to No. 12 Indiana and No. 15 Notre Dame at a tournament hosted by the Irish.
Golden State Bluejays: Creighton has four native Californians on its roster this season, including a pair from the Bay Area. Freshman Kris Clark and redshirt freshman Alex Zanotto are both from Santa Clara County. Sophomore Sergio Castillo is from Escondido and redshirt frosh Nick Goldreich hails from Pasadena.
Early Arrivals: In Creighton's 2-0 win over UC Riverside (Sept. 7), both Bluejay goals were scored by true freshmen. However this isn't the first semester on the CU campus for either rookie, as both Ethan Finlay and Greg Jordan graduated high school early and joined the Bluejays for training in the spring semester. Their early arrival has paid dividends already, as both have started all four matches, and Finlay scored both game-winning goals on the Sept.5-7 weekend. Jordan recorded an assist and goal against UCR, in addition to his stellar defensive midfield play which contributed to a pair of Bluejay shutouts. Both were honored on the Diadora Challenge All-Tournament Team and Finlay was named to Soccer America's National Team of the Week.
Offensive Output: Creighton's four goals in its season opener were the most since 2004, while the Bluejays followed with three goals in their second game. The seven goals through two games were the most for the Jays since the 1992 team poured in 13 goals in its first two matches.
No Shots For You: The Bluejay defense did not allow a shot on goal in their 2-0 win over UC Riverside (Sept. 7), marking the first time since 2005 that the Jays limited their opponent to zero shots on goal in a game. CU held Missouri State to no shots on goal in a 2-0 win on Oct. 12, 2005. UCR managed only four total shots in the game, followed by just three attempts by UMKC last Saturday, the fewest by a Bluejay foe since Brown attempted only three shots against CU on Sept. 19, 2003.
Dacy's Digits: After missing all but two games due to a torn ACL last year, junior Byron Dacy scored his first goal of the season against Portland (Sept. 5). The forward attempted and converted the second penalty kick of his career to get in the scoring column. With his assist in CU's season-opener and a goal against Portland, the Jays are now 2-0-0 when Dacy records a point this year and are 21-2-0 since 2005 when he registers a point.
Transferring Starts: Junior Akin Akinrinade and sophomore Kyle Deremer have both started every game of their collegiate careers, although they have started just four games for the Bluejays. Akinrinade started 29 matches in playing his first two seasons at Central Florida, while Deremer started all 18 matches he played in as a freshman for the Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels last year.
Home Sweet Morrison: The Bluejays are now 40-9-10 (.763) all-time at Morrison Stadium, including a 3-1-0 mark this year. Since 1990, the Bluejays are 142-25-15 (.821) at home. CU is 51-4-3 at home all-time in MVC 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. The Jays have ranked in the top-10 in the nation in attendance all five years that Morrison Stadium has been open.
Thayer of Omaha: Junior forward Jeff Thayer, an Omaha native, scored three goals in 2007, all of which were game winners. While he hasn't scored a game-winner this year, he's already two-thirds of the way to last season's goal total and he's already equalled last year's assist total through four games. He notched his first career multiple-goal match against Gonzaga (Aug. 29). For his efforts against Gonzaga, he was honored on the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.
First Things First: Freshman Kris Clark and sophomore Andrew Duran teamed up with Jeff Thayer on the final goal of the match against Gonzaga (Aug. 29). Duran and Clark both were credited with their first career assists on Thayer's second goal of the match. Sophomore Tucker Sindlinger recorded his first game-winning goal in the win as well.
Fantastic Fanatics: For the third time in school history, more than 4,000 fans turned out for a Bluejay regular-season home match, as 4,071 fans showed up for Creighton's season-opener. The Jays followed with over 3,000 fans for their second game to give the Bluejays two of the largest 10 crowds in all of college soccer through two weekends of play. The 4,071 fans ranks as the third-largest regular-season home crowd and the fifth-largest crowd in CU home history (including exhibitions).
Top Five 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 ? 4,071 vs. Gonzaga, Aug. 29, 2008
Top Five Morrison Stadium Crowds
1 ? 5,812 vs. UCLA, Sept. 8, 2007
2 ? 5,743 vs. Stanford (Exh.), Aug. 26, 2005
3 ? 4,071 vs. Gonzaga, Aug. 29, 2008
3 ? 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 2004
4 ? 4,023 vs. Tulsa, Sept. 22, 2007
Home-Opening Attendance: Bluejay fans typically make the home-opener a highly-attended contest. Since moving to Morrison Stadium in 2003, the average attendance at CU home-openers is now 3,306, following the crowd of 4,071 that attended this season's home-opener.
Keeping Keepers: There is no doubt experience in goal helps, but there is proof in Creighton's past that demonstrates that experience isn't necessary for success. This season the Bluejays return zero career minutes in goal, with three redshirt freshmen goalkeepers on the roster. The Jays have never previously returned zero minutes in net. In fact, both previous times CU returned 202 career minutes in goal or fewer, it reached the College Cup.
The fewest career goalkeeping minutes the Jays have returned prior to this season came during the 2000 campaign. Mike Gabb had played 179 career minutes before the 2000 season, a year the Bluejays would lead the NCAA with 22 wins and appear in the NCAA championship match. The second-fewest minutes the Jays have returned came in 1996, when Jon Epperson entered the year with 202 career minutes. He helped lead the Bluejays to their first College Cup Final Four that season.
National Player of the Year Candidates: For the second straight season, two Bluejays have been placed on the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List, a preseason list for the award annually given to the top soccer player in Division I. Junior Byron Dacy is on the preseason watch list for the third straight year, even after playing just two matches and redshirting last year because of a torn ACL. Senior Andrei Gotsmanov, who led the team with six goals and 17 points last year, joins Dacy on the list. Last year, Matt Allen was nominated along with Dacy to begin the season. Gotsmanov and Dacy are now on the long list of National Player of the Year candidates from Creighton, including the 1997 winner and current assistant coach, Johnny Torres.
CU National Player of the Year Candidates
Year Player
2008 Byron Dacy & Andrei Gotsmanov
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
Senior Citizens: Creighton has three seniors ? Andrei Gotsmanov, Seth Sinovic, Tim Walters ? listed on its roster this season, the fewest since the 1998 team also had just three seniors on the squad - Marc Madeley, Richard Mulrooney and Patrick Parker. Gotsmanov and Sinovic demonstrated their senior leadership and ability by combining on the first CU goal of the season this year.
In Attendance: Creighton ranked third in the nation in overall attendance in 2007, while it finished fourth in average attendance last year. The Jays brought in 34,308 fans for an average of 2,639 per game. CU's match against UCLA last year drew a school-record 5,812 fans, while two other 2007 crowds ranked in the CU top-10.
Preseason Favorites: The Missouri Valley Conference coaches have tabbed the Bluejays as preseason favorites for the fourth straight season. CU received five of the six first-place votes to total 35 points. Evansville is picked to finish second with 27 points, while Missouri State picked up the other first-place vote, despite being picked to finish last in the league.
Nine Newcomers: CU's incoming class of nine players ? six true freshmen and three transfers ? was ranked as the 16th-best recruiting class in the country according to College Soccer News. The Jays have 12 freshmen on their roster, five of whom redshirted with the Bluejays last year. Junior Akin Akinrinade (Central Florida), sophomore Kyle Deremer (St. Mary's) and freshman Tim Krueger (Hastings) have transferred into the program. Deremer and Krueger were teammates on Millard North's undefeated state championship team in 2007. Akinrinade, Krueger, along with freshmen Greg Jordan and Ethan Finlay all enrolled and trained at Creighton this spring.
Dairy State Products: A pair of freshmen from Wisconsin have been tabbed among “100 Freshmen to Keep an Eye On” according to College Soccer News. Ethan Finlay and Stew Brown, club teammates for FC Milwaukee, both earned the notice. Finlay was recognized by Rise Magazine as a top-30 national recruit and was an NSCAA Youth All-American, while Brown was an NSCAA High School All-American and named the most outstanding player at the US Youth Soccer National Championships in 2007.
Last Year in Brief: Creighton lost just one regular-season match in 2007 and finished the year with a 12-3-5 record in the third round of the NCAA Tournament - its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA postseason. The Jays ran off an 11-match unbeaten streak during their season, while posting a 4-0-2 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play for their first unbeaten record in MVC play since 1996. CU shared the MVC regular-season crown with Bradley for the second straight year. All-American Matt Allen became the first player in league history to twice be named MVC Defensive Player of the Year, while he wrapped up his career with CU records for minutes played and shutouts.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's SoccerCreighton Media Availability Men's Soccer - 11/5/25
Wednesday, November 05
Creighton MSOC Highlights & Postgame vs Seton Hall 11 1 25
Sunday, November 02
Creighton Men's Soccer Media Availability - 10/29/25
Wednesday, October 29
Creighton Men's Soccer Highlights at Butler -10-25-25
Saturday, October 25
