Creighton University
Kentucky
No. 3 Men's Soccer Blanks High-Powered Kentucky, 2-0
9/21/2011 10:02:00 PM | Men's Soccer
OMAHA, Neb. - The third-ranked Creighton men's soccer team posted its school-record seventh straight shutout on Wednesday night, blanking No. 22 Kentucky 2-0 before 2,557 fans at Morrison Stadium. The Bluejays' longest winning streak since 2005 puts them at 7-0-0 on the season for their best start since 1993.
Creighton remains the nation's only team that has yet to yield a goal in 2011 and is now one of three unbeaten and untied teams along with No. 2 Connecticut and No. 15 Old Dominion.
Kentucky, which entered the week ranked second nationally in goals scored, was held to 12 shots and fell to 6-3-1 in its first shutout loss of the season.
Following a back-and-forth first half which saw Creighton with more possession, but each team with three shots on goal, the Bluejays came out of the locker room a more aggressive team after halftime.
The Bluejays put both of their goals in during the opening 14 minutes of the second half. Andrew Ribeiro scored the first goal of the match when he blasted a shot into the lower left corner from the top of the 18-yard box with exactly 54:00 off the clock in the match. Ribeiro's second goal of the season was set up on a build up from Tyler Polak down the left side, feeding Ethan Finlay who sent a pass to the middle for what proved to be the game-winning score.
Less than five minutes later Finlay found the back of the net when he put knocked in a shot following a deflection of a Bruno Castro attempt on goal. The goal for Finlay, a two-time MAC Hermann Trophy Candidate, was his team-leading fifth of the season and coupled with his assist he now has a team-best 14 points through seven matches.
The goal for Finlay in the 59th minute served as redemption for the All-American forward, after he narrowly missed a pair of goals in the first half. In the 21st minute he hit the crossbar with a shot and in the 40th minute Kentucky goalkeeper Tyler Beadle stopped Finlay's penalty kick attempt.
"Did we come out as aggressive as I'd like to see? No. But I think we changed it in the second half," said first-year Bluejay coach Elmar Bolowich, talking about his team's change in mentality after halftime. "I think what our guys needed at halftime was a little bit of a wake-up call, but also the reassurance that we can play and there is no reason why we need to back down and there is no reason why we cannot play the way we want to play. This was a game where we needed to grow, and they (Kentucky) forced us to grow."
Beadle finished with five saves in the match, while another save was credited to a teammate on a first-half shot off the foot of Jose Gomez.
Senior goalkeeper Brian Holt stood tall in net, posting five saves. The victory was the 43rd of his career, tied for second in school history with two-time Valley Defensive Player of the Year Matt Allen. Holt also extended his school and MVC record with his 33rd career shutout. He has now played nearly 650 consecutive minutes since he last allowed a goal - the second longest streak in school history (behind his own CU record 722 scoreless minutes).
The Bluejays return to play and conclude a three-game home stand against Saint Mary's (1-2-3) on Saturday at 7 pm.
NOTES: Creighton is now 16-2-1 all-time against the top-25 at Morrison Stadium and 26-9-2 against nationally ranked teams in Omaha ... The previous CU record of six straight shutouts was set in 2008, Holt's freshman season ... The last time CU started a season 7-0-0 (1993), the Bluejays would end up being ranked No. 1 in the nation for the final five weeks of the regular-season ... Creighton has now played 88 matches at Morrison Stadium, 44 have resulted in Bluejay shutouts ... Both of Ribeiro's goals this year have been game-winners, the first two of his career ... Finlay now ranks seventh in school history with 83 career points.
