No. 1 Men's Soccer Visits Providence For Saturday Showdown

Game 17 • Sat., Oct. 31 • #1 Creighton at Providence • Providence, R.I. • 6:00 p.m. CST

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    Top-ranked Creighton Men's Soccer (15-1-0, 6-1-0 BIG EAST) will continue BIG EAST play as the Bluejays visit Providence (7-5-2, 3-3-1 BIG EAST) on Saturday, Oct. 31. The match will kick off at 6:00 p.m. CST and will take place at Ray Treacy Field in Providence, R.I.

Follow The Match
    Saturday's match will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network. To access the feed free-of-charge via FOX Sports GO, visit FOXSportsGO.com. The BIG EAST is the first and only collegiate conference to be hosted on FOX's mobile platform, FOX Sports GO.
    FOX Sports Go is currently available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire tablets and phones, select Windows devices, and on desktops. Fans can download the mobile app for free from the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store, and Windows Store. Live stats for the match can be accessed at Providence.StatBroadcast.com.

Scouting Creighton
    The No. 1 Bluejays are 15-1-0 on the season after wins versus Michigan (1-0), Milwaukee (4-0), CSUN (2-1), No. 13 UC Irvine (4-0), Michigan State (1-0), Tulsa (1-0), Northern Illinois (2-0), Seton Hall (4-2), Missouri State (4-0), DePaul (1-0), Drake (2-1), St. John's (2-1), Butler (1-0), Marquette (3-1), and Villanova (5-1), and a loss to Xavier (2-1). The Bluejays return eight starters and 13 lettermen from last year's team that won the BIG EAST Conference regular-season title, advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, and finished last season ranked No. 7 in the year-end NSCAA poll.
   Creighton returns 30 of its 32 goals from last year, including each of its top six scorers. The Bluejays also return 24-of-30 assists from a year ago, and all but five minutes of the nearly 2,044 minutes in goal from last season.
   Junior forward Fabian Herbers (12g, 10a this year) has emerged as a frontrunner for National Player of the Year honors, as he's contributed at least one point in 15 of Creighton's 16 games, including a point in the Bluejays' first 10 matches. He currently leads the BIG EAST for goals, assists, points per game, and shots on goal per game after earning First Team All-America accolades and BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors during a magnificent 2014 season. Last season, he led the conference with 28 points, was second in the league with four game-winning goals, and third in both goals (10) and assists (8). Herbers was also a Third Team CoSIDA Academic All-American last year.
   Senior Timo Pitter (7g, 3a this year) paced the league in assists (9), shots (75) and shots on goal (36) during a 2014 campaign that saw him add Second Team All-America plaudits. Pitter was also named BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year in 2014.
   Senior goalkeeper Connor Sparrow (0.57 GAA this year) returns in net after ranking second nationally in goals against average (0.49) and 10th in save percentage (.841) a year ago. Sparrow's career 0.50 goals against average as a Bluejay is the best in Creighton history among goalies with at least 2,000 minutes in net.

Scouting Providence
    Providence sits in a fifth-place tie with DePaul in the BIG EAST standings following a 4-3 win at Marquette on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
   The Friars will carry a three-match unbeaten streak into Saturday's match-up after earning victories over Seton Hall (4-0) and Marquette (4-3), and tying DePaul (0-0 2OT).
   Providence is paced on the pitch by two juniors, Mac Steeves (Needham, Mass.) and Julian Gressel (Neustadt an der Alsch, Germany). Steeves (11G, 1A) ranks second in the BIG EAST for goals behind Creighton's Fabian Herbers. Meanwhile, Gressel (3G, 7A) ranks third in the league for assists. The duo has combined for five goals and four assists in Providence's last two wins.

Series History
    Prior to Creighton joining the BIG EAST, Creighton had won its only match-up versus Providence, besting the Friars, 3-0, in Omaha in 2011. However, in BIG EAST play over the past two years, Providence owns a 3-1-0 record over the Bluejays, with two of those victories coming in the league tournament. Providence eliminated Creighton from the BIG EAST tournament in 2013 (quarterfinals) and 2014 (semifinals).
   Each of Creighton's two victories in the series have come at home inside Morrison Stadium, while Providence has won both meetings in Providence, R.I. The Friars conference tournament semifinal win last season came at a neutral site (Chester, Pa.).

Balanced Bluejays
    In 16 games this season, Creighton has allowed just nine goals. Only six teams nationally have allowed fewer goals.
   Complementing its stellar defense, Creighton's offensive attack has been one of the nation's best this season. The Bluejays' 38 total goals are fourth-best in the nation.
   No. 1 Creighton, No. 2 Wake Forest, and No. 3 Clemson are the only programs to be ranked in the nation's top 10 for both scoring offense and team goals against average.

Herbers Dominates BIG EAST Stats
    The BIG EAST Conference updates stat leaders after each set of games, and the latest stat provides a glimpse at just how dominant junior forward Fabian Herbers has been. The league tracks nine different offensive categories, and Herbers ranks first or tied for first in seven of the nine: shots (71), goals (12), assists (10), assists per game (0.62), points (34), points per game (2.12), game-winning goals (4).

Perez, Rydstrand Earn Weekly Honors
    Following his two-goal outing in Creighton's 5-1 victory over Villanova on Oct. 24, junior Ricardo Perez was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 26. His impressive outing versus Villanova was the first multi-goal game of his career, and the subsequent conference honors were a career first, as well.
   Freshman defender Joel Rydstrand, who scored Creighton's opening goal versus Villanova, was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Oct. 26, marking the second-consecutive week he has received a conference honor. On Oct. 19, he was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week.

Herbers, Keller Earn Academic Accolades
    As announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Oct. 29, Creighton's Fabian Herbers and Vincent Keller have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VII First Team.
   CoSIDA's Academic All-District Men's Soccer Teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.
   Last season, Herbers was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VII First Team and CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team. Meanwhile, Keller earned BIG EAST All-Academic honors and was the recipient of Creighton's Carl M. Reinert, S.J., Men's Scholar Athlete of the Year award.

Starting Strong
    Creighton's 15-0-0 start to the season marked the program's best start to a season since 1993 when the Bluejays began 19-0-0. Creighton was the nation's last remaining unbeaten and untied team in Division I (men's or women's) remaining in 2015 prior to the Bluejays' narrow, 2-1 loss to Xavier on Oct. 28.
    The Bluejays' 15-0-0 start to a season marked the best start in NCAA Division I Men's Soccer since 2009 when Akron began its campaign with 23-consecutive wins en route to a College Cup appearance.

BIG EAST Tourney Picture Gets Clearer
    With DePaul's 1-0 win at Butler on Oct. 28, Creighton has clinched a top-three seed for the upcoming BIG EAST Conference Men's Soccer Championship tournament (Nov. 8-15). This guarantees that the Bluejays will host at least one round of the league tournament.
   The Bluejays' remaining two games versus Providence (Oct. 31) and Georgetown (Nov. 5) will decide Creighton's final seeding for the tournament.

We're No. 1, We're No. 1
    For the eighth-straight week, Creighton is ranked first nationally in the NSCAA, Top Drawer Soccer and College Soccer News polls this week. It's the 15th time in program history the coaches have voted CU to the top spot.
   Creighton was ranked No. 1 the final five weeks of the 1993 season by the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America.
   Since the NSCAA poll became the poll of record in 1996, Creighton has been No. 1 for one week each on Sept. 15, 1999 and Sept. 10, 2013. CU moved into the top spot in this year's NSCAA poll on Sept. 8 poll and has remained there since.
   During Creighton's 2013 stint atop the poll, the Bluejays lost 3-2 in double-overtime vs. William & Mary to drop to fifth, and would actually end the season unranked.

Top 10 Crowds
   The Bluejays' total home attendance of 41,983 this season is the top mark nationally, and is a program-best, surpassing 2011's total of 40,720. Creighton is currently averaging 3,499 fans through 12 home dates, which ranks fourth nationally through games as of Oct. 29.
   Creighton's average home attendance of 3,499 is more than triple that of any other BIG EAST institution. Butler and Georgetown rank second and third with averages of 1,077 and 926, respectively.
   The 4,838 fans for Michigan on Aug. 28 ranked as the largest crowd in school history to witness a season-opener, while the crowd of 4,907 vs. CSUN on Sept. 4 was the program's largest crowd since 2012. CU's crowd of 6,453 on Sept. 19 vs. Tulsa was the second-largest home crowd in program history.
   Creighton finished last season 10th nationally in average home attendance and fifth overall in total home attendance.
   It was the 11th-straight season the Bluejays have finished in the top-10 nationally in average home attendance.

No. 1 Men's Soccer Visits Providence For Saturday Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Fabian Herbers

Vincent Keller

Ricardo Perez

Timo Pitter

Joel Rydstrand

Connor Sparrow