Men's Soccer Faces Butler For BIG EAST Title Match On Sunday

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Sunday, Nov. 13 | No. 24 Creighton (11-5-3) at No. 15 Butler (12-5-1) | Indianapolis, Ind. | 11:00 a.m. (CST)

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The fourth-seeded Creighton men's soccer team will play at second-seeded Butler for the title match of the BIG EAST Championship Presented by Jeep on Sunday. Both teams are seeking their first BIG EAST Men's Soccer Championship.

Follow The Match
Sunday's match will be broadcasted on the FS2. FS2 can be found at FOXSportsGo.com and on the FOX Sports Go app, and on cable or other service providers with appropriate sports packages.

Live stats for the contest can be found on Statbroadcast: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=154149

Bluejay fans can also stay updated through the Creighton men's soccer Twitter feed: Twitter.com/CreightonMSoc.

Scouting No. 24 Creighton (11-5-3)
The Bluejays picked up a 2-1 victory at Providence in the semifinal round of the BIG EAST Championships Presented by Jeep on Thursday night to advance to Sunday's title match.

Creighton currently holds a three-match winning streak, which was preceeded by three-straight losses.

The Bluejays finished in a tie for third in the BIG EAST and earned the No. 4 seed in the postseason BIG EAST Tournament.

BIG EAST All-Conference Second Team selection Riggs Lennon leads Creighton with 10 goals, while Noah Franke has a team-high six assists. The Bluejays average 1.79 goals per match and lead Division I with 17.2 shots per match.

Creighton has had 10 different players score at least one goal, and five have converted two or more.

BIG EAST Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Alex Kapp leads the conference with seven shutouts and holds a 0.70 goals against average.

Scouting No. 15 Butler (12-5-1)
BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Year David Goldsmith scored a golden goal during the second overtime against Villanova as Butler advanced to Sunday's championship match with a 1-0 victory.

Goldsmith owns a BIG EAST-leading 12 goals this season.

Goalkeeper Eric Dick posted his sixth shutout of the season on Thursday night.

Five Butler players earned BIG EAST All-Conference accolades.

Series History vs. Bulldogs
Creighton holds a 6-0-1 record all-time against Butler.

The Bluejays defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 on Oct. 7 in Omaha. During that contest at Morrison Stadium, both Creighton (No. 10) and Butler (No. 9) were ranked in the top-10 nationally.

The Bulldogs and Bluejays have never met during the postseason.

Last Time Out
Creighton posted its second come-from-behind BIG EAST postseason victory, 2-1 at Providence on Thursday night.

The Friars took an early lead with a goal duing the seventh minute, but the Bluejays answered with two goals during a 10-minute span to take a 2-1 lead.

Ricky Lopez-Espin scored his fourth goal in the past three matches to tie the match during the 31st minute, and Myles Englis gave Creighton the lead with a goal during the 41st.

Alex Kapp made five second-half saves to preserve the lead, and matched a career high with nine during the full 90 minutes.

Familiar Foes in BIG EAST Tourney
Thursday marked the fourth consecutive season Providence and Creighton met in the BIG EAST Championships.

With the Bluejays' victory on Thursday night, Creighton evened its postseason record against the Friars at 2-2.

The Bluejays have eliminated Providence from the BIG EAST tournament each of the past two seasons during the semifinal round.

BIG EAST Postseason History
Creighton is 3-3 during four BIG EAST tournament appearances.

Sunday marks the Bluejays' second appearance in the BIG EAST title match.

Georgetown defeated Creighton 2-1 in double overtime during the 2015 BIG EAST final.

After their victory at Providence on Thursday, the Jays are 1-2 in true road BIG EAST Tournament matches.

MSOC Seeking First BE Men's Tourney Title
The Creighton men's soccer team is looking to become the first Creighton men's team to win a BIG EAST Tournament title in any sport.

Since joining the BIG EAST in the
summer of 2013, Creighton volleyball is the only team to secure a conference tournament championship (2014, '15).

The Bluejay men's soccer team is 0-1 in BIG EAST Conference Championship title matches (2-1 loss in double overtime against Georgetown last season).

The Creighton men's soccer program captured 13 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles as a member of the conference from 1991-2012 (22 seasons).

Lopez-Espin's Strong Foot of Late
Junior Ricky Lopez-Espin has scored five of Creighton nines goals during the past five matches, including two during BIG EAST Championship play.

The Miami, Fla. native had eight goals during his first two seasons at Creighton, and now has nine during 2016.

Magic of Myles
Myles Englis scored only two goals during the regular season, but has scored three goals through two postseason matches.

He scored the game-tying goal during the first half of Creighton's first round match against Xavier (Nov. 6) and added an insurance goal during the closing seconds.

During Thursday's semifinal match at Providence, Englis scored the game-winning goal during the 41st minute.

Englis Tallies First Career Multi-Goal Match
Myles Englis scored a pair of goals against Xavier on Sunday for his first multi-goal performance during four seasons.

Englis entered the match with two goals on the season and eight in his career before the match.

Kapp On Goal
Senior Alex Kapp tied a career-high with nine saves against Providence during the BIG EAST semifinals on Nov. 10. Five of the saves occurred after halftime when the Friars held a 7-3 advantage in shots, including 5-0 in shots on goal.

Kapp tied a Morrison Stadium record for the most saves by a Creighton individual in a single match with nine against No. 8 Denver (Sept. 21).

He notched his seventh shutout as a Bluejay against Georgetown on Nov. 3. He had two clean sheets all of last season in 10 starts at Boston College.

Kapp has 14 career shutouts through 55 career starts in goal.

He also has 66 saves through 19 matches this season, while allowing 14 goals in 1790 minutes of action (0.70 goals against average).

The senior did not allow a goal for 286 minutes and 33 seconds; a span that streched from the 13th minute of Creighton's match against UNO (Sept. 5) to the 10th minute of the first BIG EAST contest against Seton Hall (Sept. 17).

Postseason Drama
Creighton has won each of its BIG EAST postseason matches in come-from-behind fashion.

The Bluejays fell behind 1-0 against Xavier before pulling out a 3-1 victory during the first round, and Providence went ahead 1-0 before the Jays scored two goals 10 minutes apart and held on for a 2-1 win during the semifinal round.

Creighton had only one win during the regular season after the opposition scored first (Sept. 17 vs. Seton Hall).

Creighton vs. Top 25
The Bluejays are 76-51-15 all-time against Top-25 opponents, and 4-1-1 this season.

Creighton is 27-23-10 on the road against Top-25 opponents, including 2-1-0 during 2016.

Perez, Kapp Named BIG EAST POY, Six Bluejays Honored on All-Conference Teams
Ricardo Perez was named the BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year, and Alex Kapp claimed BIG EAST Co-Goalkeeper of the Year
accolades, the league announced on Saturday, Nov. 5.

Perez has appeared in every match during his four seasons at Creighton, including all 18 this season. He has three goals and three assists during the 2016 campaign.

Kapp is tied for the BIG EAST lead with seven shutouts and holds a 0.70 goals against average and .825 save percentage.

Additionally, Lucas Stauffer and Perez made the BIG EAST All-Conference First Team, and Riggs Lennon, Ricky Lopez-Espin, Mitch LaGro and Kapp made the All-Conference Second Team.

Conference Success
With a victory on the final day of the regular season against Georgetown (Nov. 3), Creighton finished above .500 in conference play for the 25th time in program history.

The Bluejays went 5-3-1 in BIG EAST regular-season play this season and finished in a tie for third place.

In 26 seasons combined in the Missouri Valley Conference (22 seasons) and BIG EAST (4 seasons), Creighton has never finished with more losses than wins during conference play and finished at .500 only once (4-4-1 in 2013).

The Penalty Kicks Keep Coming
Ricky Lopez-Espin's game-winning penalty kick against Xavier (Nov. 6) marked his first PK during three seasons at Creighton.

The Bluejays have attempted six penalty kicks this season, the most since 2001. Creighton has converted 5-of-6 PKs this season. During the 2001 sesaon, the Bluejays were a perfect 6-of-6.

Riggs Lennon leads the Bluejays with a perfect 3-for-3 showing this season.

Lennon did not attempt a penalty kick during the regular-season while playing three seasons at Virginia, but did convert during postseason shootouts. He had the clinching penalty kick during 2014 NCAA National Championship, and scored the fifth and final PK during the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals that same season against Georgetown.

Lennon also made a penalty kick during a shootout in a 2013 ACC Tournament match to help Virginia advance past eventual
national-champion Notre Dame.

Goalkeeper Alex Kapp also has a penalty kick on his resume. Kapp converted a PK during a shootout last season during the NCAA Tournament against Georgetown to help Boston College advance to the Elite Eight.

Below is a list of the active Bluejays' career penalty kick stats, (includes shootouts):

Player   Career   2016
Riggs Lennon   6-6   3-3
Lucas Stauffer   1-2   1-2
Ricky Lopez-Espin   1-1   1-1
Alex Kapp   1-1   ----

Recent Shootout History
Under coach Elmar Bolowich, Creighton has partipated in three shootouts.

The Bluejays are have advanced once on penalty kicks and been eliminated in the NCAA Tournament twice.

During its last penalty kick shootout, UMBC advanced with a 4-3 edge in PKs to eliminate Creighton during the 2014 NCAA quarterfinals.

The last time the Bluejays advanced on penalty kicks was during the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Creighton advanced past No. 1 Akron 5-4 on penalty kicks to reach the quarterfinal round.

Three Is The Magic Number
Creighton is 7-0-0 this season when scoring three or more goals.

The Bluejays have won their last 40 matches when scoring three or more goals, dating back to a 3-3 tie against Drake on Nov. 7, 2009.

Creighton has scored three or more goals 220 times in program history while going 216-1-3 in those matches.

The one loss came during the 1990 season. The Bluejays fell to Missouri State 5-4 in overtime.

NCAA Selection Show
The 2016 NCAA Men's Soccer Selection Show will be held on Monday, Nov. 14 at noon (CST) and will be available via live stream on NCAA.com.

With a victory in Sunday's championship match, the Bluejays will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. If the Jays do not win, they will be considered for one of the at-large spots in the field of 48.

Creighton will NOT hold a public viewing party for the selection show.

Men's Soccer Faces Butler For BIG EAST Title Match On Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Myles Englis

Noah Franke

Alex Kapp

Mitch LaGro

Riggs Lennon

Ricky Lopez-Espin

Ricardo Perez

Lucas Stauffer