Creighton University
5-0-0
Michigan State
3-2-0
No. 1 Men's Soccer Blanks Michigan State, 1-0
9/13/2015 2:28:00 PM | Men's Soccer
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The No. 1 Creighton men's soccer team figures to stay atop of the national rankings for consecutive weeks for the first time since 1993 after a 1-0 win at Michigan State on Sunday.
Creighton improves to 5-0-0 for the first time since the 2011 College Cup team with the win. The Bluejays are one of six remaining teams nationally that are unbeaten or untied after five matches this fall.
Michigan State, which has reached the NCAA quarterfinals each of the previous two years, fell to 3-2-0 with its first home loss of the fall.
"It was one of those hard-fought away games where you need to figure out a way to win," said CU head coach Elmar Bolowich. "There wasn't a lot of flow or scoring opportunities. Both teams defended really. well. but the difference was a phenomenal play by Fabian Herbers where he took ball from the goalkeeper and put it in the back of the net. We had to really grind it out in the second half, and it was our defense that had to pull us through."
Herbers scored the only goal of the game with just 40 seconds remaining in the first half, taking advantage of a misplay from MSU keeper Zach Bennett to score his fifth goal of the season.
It would prove to be the ninth game-winning goal of Herbers' career, and third this fall for the MAC Hermann Trophy Player of the Year candidate.
Creighton outshot MSU 10-2 in the first half and had a 6-2 edge in corner kicks. For the game, CU led 12-7 in shots and 6-4 in corner kicks.
Connor Sparrow notched his third complete game shutout of the fall, making one first half save for the clean sheet, as Creighton improved to 38-0-2 when leading at half and 59-3-2 when scoring first under Bolowich.
Creighton returns home on Saturday night at 7 pm when it hosts Tulsa to cap its annual Homecoming week. Pending the release of Tuesday's NSCAA poll, it figures to be Creighton's first home game as the nation's No. 1 team since Nov. 14, 1993.
Team Stats
HERBERS, Fabian (5)
Tapped in after GK turnover
44:20
