Men's Soccer Plays Missouri State for the MVC Title on Sunday

State Farm MVC Tournament Championship Match Notes
Missouri State (9-7-2) at #2 Creighton Bluejays (17-2-0)
Morrison Stadium • Omaha, Neb. • Nov. 13
Series History: Creighton leads 19-8-4
TV: Fox Sports Net
MVC Tournament Central

Television Information
The championship match will be televised live on Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, DirecTV Channel 671, Dish Network Channel 418, AT&T U-verse Channel 748 and ESPN3.com outside of the seven MVC states.

CU-MSU Series
• Creighton is 19-7-4 all-time against Missouri State, including 10-3-0 in Omaha.
• CU is 6-1-0 against Missouri State in the MVC Tournament, including 3-0-0 in championship matches, topping MSU in the 1997, 1998 and 2008 MVC title matches.
• MSU won the first ever MVC Tournament match played in Morrison Stadium, beating Creighton 1-0 in the 2003 quarterfinals.
• In each of the previous six meetings with the Bears, at least one team has failed to score.
• CU beat MSU 2-0 the last time these teams met in Omaha, last Nov. 3.
• MSU beat CU 1-0 this season in Springfield, as the Bears were the only Valley team to score on the Bluejays this season. MSU is one of three teams to outshoot the Jays in a match this year.

CU at the MVC Tournament
• Creighton is 30-8-1 all-time in the MVC Tournament, including 11-3-0 in championship matches. Including Sunday, the Jays have appeareard in 15 of the 21 MVC tournament title matches.
• CU's 11 MVC Tournament titles and 30 wins are league records.
• CU is now 13-2-1 in tournament matches played in Omaha, including 3-2-1 in tournament matches played at Morrison Stadium.
• CU has won three MVC Tournament championship matches in Omaha (1992, 1993, 1994), but is looking for its first title at Morrison Stadium. Tulsa (2004) and Bradley (2007) won the two previous tournaments held at this venue.
• Creighton is trying to win both the MVC and regular-season title in the same season for the seventh time. CU was also double champs in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2006 and 2008.

Miscellaneous Facts
• Creighton has not lost since its 1-0 defeat at Missouri State on Oct. 12.
• The Bluejays have won seven straight matches since that loss, including six staight shutout victories entering the championship match.
• Creighton set an MVC record with its 15th shutout of the season on Friday night in its 1-0 win over Bradley in the semifinals. The 15 clean sheets are also a school record.
• CU leads the NCAA with a 0.21 goals against average, as the Bluejays have allowed only four goals in 19 matches this season.
• Creighton also leads the NCAA with a 93.0 save percentage and 78.9 shutout percentage – posting 15 clean sheets in 19 matches.
• CU has not allowed a goal in its last 567:42 minutes played, dating back to UC Irvine's tally against the Bluejays in the second half on Oct. 15.
• Brian Holt has not allowed a goal in his last 557:42 minutes played, the third streak of better than 550 consecutive scoreless minutes in his career.
• Holt started the season with 733:19 consecutive scoreless minutes played to extend to a school-record 753:34 minutes without a goal allowed (breaking his former mark of 722:12 set in 2008).
• Head Coach Elmar Bolowich is looking to win the second conference tournament title of his 23-year coaching career. He also led North Carolina to the ACC Tournament Title in 2000.
• Elmar Bolowich is now 297-146-40 in his 23rd year as a collegiate head coach – his first 22 years coming at North Carolina. He is 17-2-0 in his first season at Creighton, 10-0-0 at home.
• CU is 10-0-0 at home this year, posting a school-record nine home shutouts.
• CU has allowed only one goal in 10 matches at home this season, outscoring opponents 21-1 at Morrison Stadium.
• The Bluejays have won their last 11 home matches dating back to last year's NCAA Tournament win over New Mexico. The 11 straight home wins is CU's longest streak since the Jays won a school-record 15 straight between 1997 and 1999.
• Creighton has won 10 home matches in a season for the fourth time in program history. The 1993 team won 13 matches at home, while the 2004 and 2008 squads each won 10 matches at home.
• CU is now 69-13-12 (.798) all-time in matches played at Morrison Stadium. Creighton has posted 49 clean sheets in its 94 all-time matches in this venue.
• Creighton's 1-0 win over Bradley on Friday was its eighth 1-0 victory of the season, a school record.
• Creighton allowed only one shot on goal to Bradley in Friday's win. No Bluejay opponent has had more than two shots on goal in Creighton's last six matches.
• Jose Gomez scored Creighton's lone goal in Friday's semifinal win over Bradley, becoming the sixth different Bluejay to score at least three goals on the season.
• Ethan Finlay assisted the game-winning goal on Friday, his career-best sixth assist. He leads the MVC with his 11 goals and 28 points on the season.
• Finlay scored the game-winning goal against Missouri State as a freshman in the 2008 MVC Title match in Evansville.
• Creighton is looking for its first unbeaten season at home since the 1998 team went 8-0-0 in Omaha.
• Creighton was ranked No. 1 in the final two weeks of the NCAA's official RPI, Missouri State entered the week with an RPI of 81.
• Creighton is now 6-1-0 against teams in the RPI top 40 this year.
• Morrison Stadium was named the top venue to watch a college soccer match by College Soccer News prior to this season.
• Creighton ranked fifth in the NCAA in average home attendance (3,298) entering the week. CU has ranked in the top-10 in NCAA attendance each of the nine seasons Morrison Stadium has been open.
• Brian Holt captured his 53rd career victory on Friday night, tying Jay Fitzgerald's (1991-95) school record for career wins. He'll look to set the record with a championship victory.
• Holt also posted his 40th career shutout on Friday, as he continues to obliterate the former league record of 27.5 set by Bradley's Chris Dunsheath. The former CU record was 26, by Matt Allen.
• Holt's career goals against average of 0.65 is a Creighton and MVC record.
• Ethan Finlay was named the MVC Player of the Year for the second straight season this year, becoming the first Bluejay in the storied history of Creighton soccer to win the honor twice. He is just the third player in league history to win the award two times.
• Brian Holt, who has set a school record with 13 solo shutouts this year, was named the MVC Goalkeeper of the Year. He owns a career-best 51 saves on the season.
• Andrew Duran was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Year. The center back has started all 19 matches for the Bluejays, helping the top-ranked defense in the NCAA post an MVC-record 15 shutouts and NCAA-leading 0.21 goals against average.
• Elmar Bolowich guided the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year, with assistant coaches Johnny Torres (an MVC Hall of Famer) and Justin Hughes, along with graduate manager Matt Wieland.
• Five Bluejays earned MVC First-Team notice – Ethan Finlay, Brian Holt, Andrew Duran, Tyler Polak and Greg Jordan.
• 10 of 11 Bluejay starters were honored by the MVC. Dion Acoff, Bruno Castro and Jose Gomez each earned MVC Second-Team honors and Andrew Ribeiro earned an honorable-mention nod. Eric Miller was named to the MVC All-Freshman team.
• Creighton's 17 wins this season are its most since the 2002 team which played in the NCAA semifinals finished with 18 victories.
• Creighton will appear in its 19th NCAA Tournament over the last 20 years this season. CU appeared in 17 straight from 1992-2008 and advanced to the second round of the event in 2010. The Bluejays have been to three College Cups (Final Fours) – 1996, 2000 and 2002.

Download Complete Tournament Notes here

Men's Soccer Plays Missouri State for the MVC Title on Sunday

Players Mentioned

Dion Acoff

Bruno Castro

Andrew Duran

Ethan Finlay

Jose Gomez

Brian Holt

Greg Jordan

Eric Miller

Tyler Polak

Andrew Ribeiro

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