Men's Soccer Opens Home Schedule With UNCG Saturday

Match 2 vs. UNC Greensboro • Saturday, Sept. 4 • 7:00 p.m.
UNC Greensboro Spartans at Creighton Bluejays
Morrison Stadium • Omaha, Neb.
Series History: Creighton leads 2-1-0

Following the Jays: Every Creighton home match this season can be followed on the internet via live stats and live video at www.gocreighton.com. Live stats for all home matches can be viewed free by clicking on the 'Live Stats' link. Fans can subscribe to watch a live video stream of the Bluejays' home matches via the 'Live Video' link.

This Week: For the second straight season, Creighton opened the season against Loyola Chicago, this time opening on the road. The Bluejays topped the Ramblers 2-0 on Wednesday, with goals from Kris Clark and Jose Gomez leading the offense. CU allowed only two shots and none on goal in the shutout. Creighton opens its home schedule on Saturday night, playing host to UNC Greensboro at Morrison Stadium at 7 p.m.

Exhibition Summary: Creighton won both of its exhibition matches by 2-1 scores, defeating Denver (Aug. 21) on the road and winning a home contest against nationally-ranked NAIA foe Hastings (Neb.) College last Friday. Illinois natives Andrew Duran and Greg Jordan scored for the Bluejays in Denver, while Kyle Deremer and Ethan Finlay notched the tallies at home. Sophomore transfer Jose Gomez assisted three of CU's four goals in exhibition play. Junior goalkeeper Brian Holt logged seven saves and a 0.62 goals against average.

Scouting Creighton (1-0-0): Creighton narrowly missed its 18th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2009, finishing with a 7-4-5 overall record and tied for third in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 4-2-4 record. The Bluejays will look to start a new streak this fall under first-year head coach Jamie Clark. The Bluejays return 12 players and six starters from last year's squad. The Jays lost three starting defenders from last year's team, after they ranked 18th in the NCAA with a 0.76 goals against average. Preseason All-American Ethan Finlay, a first-team all-MVC and all-region pick last year after leading the team with eight goals and 19 points, begins the season as a National Player of the Year candidate. Joining Finlay on the preseason all-MVC team are senior defender Kyle Deremer (Omaha Millard North) and sophomore forward-midfielder Dion Acoff – the 2009 MVC Freshman of the Year. Returning for his third season starting in goal for the Jays is junior Brian Holt, the CU and MVC career goals against average leader, at 0.62. With his shutout on Wednesday, Holt has now posted 21 clean sheets in 36 career starts. Other returning starters include seniors Sergio Castillo and Josh Moran. The Bluejays will also welcome back midfielder Greg Jordan, after the sophomore redshirted last season following a knee injury suffered in the second match of the season.

Scouting UNC Greensboro (1-0-0): The Spartans were 6-10-3 last year, including 3-3-1 for a fourth-place finish in the Southern Conference. They have been picked to finish sixth in the eight-team conference this season. Defender Will Mack was honored on the preseason all-conference team. UNCG opened the season with a 2-1 home win over Charlotte (ranked 25th in the College Soccer News preseason poll) on Wednesday night, despite being out-shot 18-9. Hakan Ilhan and Eli Garner scored for the Spartans in the victory. Goalkeeper Peyton Ford made four saves in the win.

Head Coach: Jamie Clark (Stanford, 1999) is in his first season at Creighton after spending two successful seasons at Harvard in his first head coaching assignment. A former MLS player and collegiate All-American, Clark is 27-10-1 (.724) in his third season as a head coach, guiding Harvard to the NCAA Tournament in his first two years as a head coach. He was named the NSCAA Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2009 while leading Harvard to a top-10 ranking, Ivy League championship and third round of the NCAA Tournament. Prior to becoming a head coach he served as an assistant at New Mexico and Notre Dame.

CU-UNCG Series: The Bluejays and Spartans have met three times previously – this is the first meeting in Omaha – with Creighton owning a 2-1-0 edge in the series. CU won 2-0 at UNCG on Oct. 20, 2007 – Sergio Castillo was the only current Bluejay to play that day. The first two meetings in the series were at neutral sites, with CU winning the first match up 2-0 in 1993 in Charlotte, N.C., and falling 4-0 in 1997 in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Home Openers: For just the fourth time since the program restarted in 1990, Creighton opened the season away from Omaha this year. The Bluejays now return home looking to extend an undefeated streak of 14 matches in home opening contests. The Jays are 10-0-4 in their last 14 home-openers, with a 3-1 loss to No. 20 Duke in 1995 serving as the last home opening loss. The Jays are 4-0-3 in home openers at Morrison Stadium, scoring four goals in three of the four wins.

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 3,228. Four home-opening crowds have topped 3,400, with two of the seven openers ranking in the top-10 in CU single-game attendance. See the list below.

Home-Openers at Morrison Stadium
Year    Opponent    Attendance
2009    Loyola (Ill.) - T, 0-0    2,758
2008    Gonzaga - W, 4-1    4,071
2007    San Diego State - T, 2-2    3,716
2006    Georgetown - W, 3-2 (ot)    3,746
2005    Loyola (Ill.) - W, 4-2    2,728
2004    Western Michigan - W, 4-0    2,089
2003    Butler - T, 0-0    3,483

Home Sweet Morrison: The Jays are 52-11-11 (.777) all-time at Morrison Stadium, including a 5-2-1 mark last year. Creighton has lost just one home match in four of its last six seasons. Since 1990, the Bluejays are 154-27-15 (.824) at home. CU has never lost a home opener at Morrison Stadium (4-0-3).

Clark Wins Debut: Head coach Jamie Clark won 2-0 over Loyola Chicago on Sept. 1 in his first match at CU's leader. The win puts the six all-time Bluejay coaches at 5-1-0 in their debut match. (The only head coach to lose in his debut was Bret Simon, falling to No. 20 Duke in 1995.) Clark is now 2-1-0 in season-openers in his head coaching career.

Scoring in Debut: Sophomore transfer Jose Gomez scored at Loyola Chicago on Sept. 1 to become the first Bluejay to score in his Creighton debut since another transfer did so in 2005. Brian Kallman (older brother of current sophomore Brent Kallman) scored in his first game of his only season at Creighton, helping the Bluejays tie Portland 1-1 on Sept. 2, 2005. Gomez hopes to avoid Kallman's fate, as that proved to be the only goal of his season.

Twice is Nice: Creighton scored two goals in its season opener, one year after suffering through its worst offensive season since 1984. The Bluejays did not score two goals in a match until their seventh contest last year and scored two or more goals in a match just four times in 16 contests last year.

Don't Shoot: The Bluejays did not allow a shot on goal in their season-opening win at Loyola Chicago (Sept. 1). It marked the first time since Oct. 18, 2008 that the Bluejays held an opponent without a shot on goal. CU allowed only two shots total to the Ramblers, the fewest shots by a Bluejay foe since Memphis attempted only three shots on Oct. 8, 2008. Since 2000, the Jays have posted six matches in which they allowed three shots, but none with two or fewer before their 2010 opener.

Road Warriors: The Bluejays continued a streak started in the 2007 with a win at Loyola Chicago to open the season. The Jays are now undefeated in their last 18 regular-season road matches dating back to a 2006 loss. They were 2-0-4 in true road games during the regular-season last year and are 11-0-7 in regular-season road games over the last three years (4-0-1 in 2007, 4-0-2 in 2008). CU last lost a regular-season road match on Oct. 28, 2006, a 2-1 defeat at Bradley. Since the start of the 2007 season, the Bluejays are 15-3-7 overall in matches away from Omaha, including 11-2-7 in true road matches and 4-1-0 in neutral contests.

Opening Away: Creighton opened the season away from Omaha for just the fourth time since the program was restarted in 1990, when it won 2-0 at Loyola on Sept. 1. It was the first time the Jays opened with a true road match since playing at Portland to open the 2005 season. The only other time the Jays opened the season with a true road game since 1990 was at Saint Louis in 1997. In 2006, the Jays opened away from Omaha with a neutral site match against Indiana (at Notre Dame).

Ethan Finlay Nets Preseason Honors: Junior forward Ethan Finlay has joined a long list of former Bluejays that have been candidates for college soccer's top individual honor, as he has been named to the preseason Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy Watch List. Finlay, who has also been tabbed to Soccer America's Preseason All-America Team, led the team with eight goals and 19 points as a sophomore and is CU's active career leader with 14 goals, seven assists and 35 points. He has led the team and MVC in game-winning goals in each of his first two seasons, as nine of his 14 career goals have been game-winners. Finlay is 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
2010    Ethan Finlay
2009    Byron Dacy, Chris Schuler, Seth Sinovic
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

Blackjack Roster: Creighton has its smallest roster since 1996, with just 21 student-athletes listed on the squad this year. The small roster is in sharp contrast to the last decade at Creighton, where the average roster size was 30.2 between 2000-09. That 1996 team had 22 players on the squad, but capped the season by appearing in the first College Cup Final Four in school history.

That's Offensive: Creighton returns its leading scorer from last year in junior Ethan Finlay. Finlay led the team with eight goals, including an MVC-best five game-winners in 2009. Beyond Finlay's 14 career goals, the remainder of the Bluejay roster has a combined eight career goals – Kris Clark (3), Josh Moran (1), Dion Acoff (1), Greg Jordan (1), Sergio Castillo (1) and Jose Gomez (1). Of Finlay's 14 career goals, nine are game-winners. Clark is the only other active Bluejay with at least one career game-winning goal.

Senior Citizens: Creighton has four seniors on the roster this year, all starters. Defender Kyle Deremer, a second-team all-MVC honoree in 2009, has started 34 of the 35 matches he has played in during his three seasons at CU. Sergio Castillo, a two-time MVC All-Tournament Team selection, has started 42 of his 53 career games. Andrew Duran has been slowed by injuries throughout his career, limiting him to 20 starts in 31 matches. Josh Moran started 13 of 15 matches and led the team with five assists in his first year with the Jays last year, earning second-team all-MVC notice for his play.

Nine Newbies: Creighton welcomes nine newcomers to Omaha this fall, including a pair of transfers and seven freshmen. Both transfers –
junior Jace Peters and sophomore Jose Gomez started in the season-opener, along with freshman Tyler Polak. Polak, a Lincoln native, is a U-17 and U-20 U.S. National Team member.    Polak has been named one of the College Soccer News “100 Freshmen to Keep an Eye On”. Another freshman who debuted in the opener, Liam Kelly, is a member of the U-20 Canadian National Team.

MVC Preseason Poll: For the first time since 2004, the Bluejays are not favored to win the Missouri Valley Conference as voted on by league coaches. MVC coaches have tabbed Creighton for a third-place finish, behind Evansville and defending regular-season champion Missouri State. This marks just the second time in 20 years of MVC soccer that the Jays have not been picked to finish in the top-two, as CU was tabbed third in the initial MVC preseason poll in 1991. The Bluejays, who have been picked to win The Valley 12 times, own a league record nine regular-season titles.

Welcome and Goodbye: The MVC welcomes two new affiliate men's soccer members this fall, as Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Central Arkansas join the league for the sport. This season also marks the final season that Eastern Illinois will be an affiliate of the MVC in men's soccer. The Panthers, who have been an MVC soccer affiliate since 1996, will become an affiliate member of the Summit League in 2011.

Strong Schedule: Jamie Clark inherited one of the toughest schedules in the nation this year, one that features seven teams which advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2009. Akron, the 2009 NCAA runner-up, begins the season ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA, Soccer America and College Soccer News preseason polls. The Jays also play preseason No. 7 Tulsa and No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. The Jays play at UCSB – the site of this season's NCAA College Cup – on Sept. 7. MVC foe Drake, which advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals last year, is ranked 14th in the preseason NSCAA poll. CU also hosts preseason No. 20 Indiana. In addition to those five squads, the Jays also take on 2009 NCAA teams Dartmouth and Missouri State this fall.

Format Switch: The MVC will return to its typical regular-season schedule this fall, which sees teams meet just once during the season. Last year, the MVC played a double round-robing, with teams meeting twice (home and road). The Valley tournament will return to a six-team field after including just four last year. The top two seeds will earn a bye into the semifinals on Nov. 12, while the 3-6 seeds will face off in opening round play on Nov. 10. The championship will be played on Nov. 14, as all matches will be played at Bradley's Shea Stadium in Peoria, Ill.

Familiar Faces Return: Jamie Clark retained assistant coach Johnny Torres on his staff, while two other former Bluejay standouts have returned to the bench this fall. Matt Wieland, the 2003 MVC Defensive Player of the Year and 2005 NSCAA Third-Team All-American, is serving as CU's graduate manager this season. Michael Kraus, 2006 MVC Player of the Year, has returned to campus to complete his undergraduate work this semester and will be a student assistant coach for the Bluejays while finishing up his school work.

Updated & Extended Coverage: Fans will notice Creighton home matches not only have a new live stats platform, but will also benefit from Creighton's change to BCS Stats. The new live stats provider allows fans to follow the live action on their mobile device at www.gocreightonstats.com. Fans can also find more info on Bluejay athletics on Facebook at the “Official Creighton Athletics Page” and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gocreighton.

Men's Soccer Opens Home Schedule With UNCG Saturday

Players Mentioned

Dion Acoff

Sergio Castillo

Kris Clark

Byron Dacy

Kyle Deremer

Andrew Duran

Ethan Finlay

Jose Gomez

Brian Holt

Greg Jordan

Brent Kallman

Liam Kelly

Josh Moran

Jace Peters

Tyler Polak

Chris Schuler

Seth Sinovic

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