Bluejays Outplay No. 7 UCLA in 1-0 Men's Soccer Win

OMAHA, Neb. – Ethan Finlay's goal in the 50th minute and an outstanding effort from the Creighton men's soccer team earned the Bluejays a 1-0 victory over seventh-ranked UCLA Saturday afternoon at Morrison Stadium. The Bluejays did not allow a shot from UCLA until the 34th minute and out-shot the Bruins 12-5 in the win. Creighton now stands at 7-3-4 on the season, dropping UCLA to 9-3-2.

The Bluejays came out on the attack, earning four first-half corner kicks and out-shooting the Bruins 5-1 in the opening 45 minutes. A shot by Chris Schuler in the 42nd minute was cleared off the line by a Bruin defender. The only scoring chance for UCLA in the first half came when Michael Roman snuck by the Bluejay defense on the through ball, but Bluejay keeper Brian Holt came off his line and attacked the shot, making a spectacular save to keep the Bruins off the board.

Creighton scored the only goal of the match at the 49:06 mark with a series of well placed passes. Dion Acoff sent the ball across the box from the right side, finding Byron Dacy on the left side. The senior settled the ball and was close enough to the goal to draw the attention of UCLA keeper Brian Perk, who found himself out of position when Dacy placed a perfect pass to Finlay just five yards in front of the net in the middle. Finlay tucked it away for his seventh goal and fifth game-winner of the season.

“Today is really the first time all year that we've been completely healthy,” said head coach Bob Warming after the Bluejays improved to 3-1-1 all-time against UCLA. “Dacy is finally fit to play and it showed in his effort today. This team has battled through a lot of challenges because we've had a different lineup almost every game this year. Hopefully now we're poised to make a run.”

The Bluejays continued their attack even with the 1-0 advantage, knocking five of the seven shots in the second half on goal. Acoff, a California native, put all four of his shots in the match on goal. Perk finished with four saves in net for UCLA.

Holt needed to make one more stop in the match to preserve the shutout, saving David Estrada's shot in the 64th minute. The Bluejay defense never allowed a true scoring opportunity to the Bruins in the second half, as one of the nation's top scorers, Kyle Nakazawa, didn't even attempt a shot in Creighton's dominating win.

Creighton celebrated Senior Day after the match, in its final regular-season home match of 2009. The Bluejays now travel to Drake for their regular-season finale next Saturday at 7 p.m.

NOTES: Creighton is 3-1-1 all-time against UCLA, including 1-0-1 in Omaha ... CU is 9-0-3 in its last 12 matches with teams from California, while posting eight straight shutouts against California-based teams ... The Jays are now 2-1-0 against the top-25 this year and 14-2-1 against nationally-ranked teams at Morrison Stadium all-time ... CU has now followed its last 14 ties with a win ... The Jays are 25-2-0 all-time when Byron Dacy records a point in a match ... The Bluejays honored their seven active seniors - Akin Akinrinade, Dacy, Thomas Gjoesund, Chris Schuler, Trent Senske, Seth Sinovic, Jeff Thayer - after the match, and former Bluejay Jeremy Wittig. Wittig's career was cut short before his fourth season this year, due to a back fracture and concussions.

Bluejays Outplay No. 7 UCLA in 1-0 Men's Soccer Win

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Players Mentioned

Dion Acoff

Akin Akinrinade

Byron Dacy

Ethan Finlay

Thomas Gjoesund

Brian Holt

Chris Schuler

Trent Senske

Seth Sinovic

Jeff Thayer

Jeremy Wittig