Creighton University
Missouri State
Missouri State Upsets Men's Soccer in MVC Opener
9/19/2009 10:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer
OMAHA, Neb. – Missouri State scored in the final minute of the first half and held on to upset the sixth-ranked Creighton men's soccer team 1-0 Saturday night in front of a Missouri Valley Conference record crowd of 5,609 at Morrison Stadium. The loss was Creighton's first in Valley play at home since 2004, snapping the Jays' 15 match home unbeaten streak (14-0-1) in league play. The defeat was also CU's first in Valley play since 2006, after going unbeaten in league play over the past two seasons.
In a tightly contested match, the Bears (3-1-1, 1-0-0 MVC) took advantage of one of the rare opportunities they had on offense when they earned a corner kick in the final minute of the first half. After a clock stoppage because of an injured MSU player, Johannes Demarzi sent a corner kick to the middle where Jordan Hoffman deflected the ball into the net for this first career goal, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead with 46 seconds left in the opening half.
The MSU goal proved to be the final shot they would attempt in the match, opting to fight for the win on their defensive half.
The Jays had a number of early scoring chances and it appeared only a matter of time before their offense would break through. In the 13th minute, Byron Dacy registered Creighton's only shot on goal, when he volleyed Kris Clark's corner kick at the net, only to have it turned away by an out-stretched first-team all-MVC goalkeeper Alex Riggs. Seth Sinovic was unable to put the rebound from Dacy's shot into the net.
Josh Moran had a great scoring chance in the 34th minute as the result of a great build up, but his shot from 15 yards out went high. Dacy took his fourth and final shot of the match, a header in the 37th minute, but it too sailed just high.
In the second half, CU controlled the possession but could not finish its chances. The Jays' best chance to score the equalizer came in the 60th minute, when Jeff Thayer made a great run just outside of the penalty box and crossed it to the far post, where Ethan Finlay got a boot on the ball but could not control it enough to send it on goal. Chris Schuler logged the only shot by either squad in the second half, when his low driving attempt went far left in the 73rd minute.
“I felt like we created enough chances tonight, but their goalkeeper made some great plays on the ball,” said head coach Bob Warming after his team's first Valley loss in nearly three years. “We've played some close matches in the MVC over the past few years and we've been fortunate to score late in some of those and win some in overtime. I think our guys got a reminder tonight of how much of a battle the Valley really is.”
The Bluejays (1-1-1, 0-1-0 MVC) will look to rebound when they play at the Husky Fever Classic in Seattle, Wash., next weekend. The Jays play host Washington next Friday at 9 p.m. (CST) and then take on Portland next Sunday.
NOTES: The crowd of 5,609 was the second-largest regular-season home crowd in school history (5,812 vs. UCLA on Sept. 8, 2007 is the record) ... It is the only match among the top-10 attended home matches in school history that came in MVC play – the previous best home MVC crowd of 3,192 came against Evansville on Oct. 11, 2008 ... CU is now 12-3-4 all-time in MVC openers, 8-2-3 under Bob Warming ... Creighton had not played its MVC opener this early in the season since a Sept. 14, 1993 match against Drake ... CU is 18-7-3 all-time against MSU, with three of the Bears wins coming in Omaha ... The Jays were 8-0-3 in MVC play over the past two seasons, and had not lost in Valley play since the regular-season finale in 2006 ... The loss snapped CU's nine-match home unbeaten streak ... CU is now 18-2-2 in MVC play at Morrison Stadium, with the previous loss coming to No. 17 SMU to open Valley play in 2004 ... The loss is just the third regular-season defeat for the Jays in the past three seasons.
