Men's Soccer Travels to Kentucky for NCAA Second Round

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Sunday, Nov. 20 | No. 23 Creighton (12-6-3) at No. 18 Kentucky (11-4-3) | Lexington, Ky. | 3:30 p.m. (CST)

Up Next
The Creighton men's soccer team will play 16th-seeded Kentucky for an NCAA Second Round match in Lexington, Kentucky on Sunday afternoon.

Follow The Match
Sunday's match will be broadcasted on the SEC Network+, ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.

Live stats for the contest can be found at NCAA.com in the Gamecenter for the Creighton-Kentucky match: http://www.ncaa.com/game/soccer-men/d1/2016/11/20/creighton-kentucky

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

Scouting No. 23 Creighton (12-6-3)
The Bluejays opened the 2016 NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 first round win against Tulsa.

Creighton earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament following a runner-up finish during the BIG EAST Tournament.

BIG EAST All-Conference Second Team selections Riggs Lennon and Ricky Lopez-Espin lead Creighton with 10 goals, while Joel Rydstrand leads the team with seven assists. The Bluejays average 1.81 goals per match and rank amoung the top five in Division I with 16.9 shots per match.

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

BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year Ricardo Perez has 10 points from three goals and four assists, including two during postseason play.

BIG EAST Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Alex Kapp leads the conference with eight shutouts (one combined) and holds a 0.73 goals against average.

Scouting No. 18 Kentucky (11-4-3)
The Wildcats earned a national seed for the first time in program history.

Kentucky is making their third consecutive NCAA appearance and fourth in the past five seasons.

The Wildcats are 1-7-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.

Kentucky is undefeated at home this season (8-0-2).

Napo Matsoso leads the squad with 20 points from eight goals and four assists, while Charlie Reymann has a team-high 10 assists.

Goalkeeper Stuart Ford has nine total shutouts (one combined) and a 0.74 goals against average.

Series History vs. Wildcats
Creighton leads the all-time series against Kentucky 2-0-0.

The teams have not played each other in Lexington.

The Bluejays defeated the Wildcats 2-0 during their last meeting on Sept. 21, 2011 in Omaha.

Last Time Out
Creighton used a pair of early goals to defeat Tulsa 3-0 during the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Morrison Stadium on Thurday night.

Mitch LaGro and Myles Englis each scored during the opening six minutes of the match, and Ricky Lopez-Espin added to the lead during the 68th minute.

Alex Kapp and Michael Kluver combined for the Bluejays' eighth shutout this season.

NCAA Tournament History
The Bluejays are making their 24th NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 25 seasons.

Creighton is 33-19-7 during NCAA action, and has advanced to the College Cup five times (1996, 2000, 2002, 2011, 2012), including a runner-up finish during the 2000 season.

Creighton teams coached by Elmar Bolowich have made advanced to at least the Elite Eight four of five seasons and to the College Cup twice.

NCAA Experience
Creighton has a handful of players with meaningful NCAA Tournament stats as five active Bluejays have recorded a point during NCAA matches before this season, and two others have contributed in large ways at other schools.

Ricky Lopez-Espin and Ricardo Perez each scored two goals, while Evan Waldrep had one during 2015, and Lucas Stauffer scored a goal during the 2014 NCAAs.

Noah Franke had an assist last year, while Stauffer also recorded a helper during the 2014 tournament.

Senior transfer Riggs Lennon has a pair of NCAA match-clinching penalty kicks as a player at Viriginia, including the game-winner against UCLA in the 2014 National Championship match.

Goalkeeper Alex Kapp went 2-1-1 during the 2015 NCAA Tournament for Boston College. He also converted a shootout penalty kick
during the NCAA quarterfinal round against Georgetown.

Creighton vs. Top 25
The Bluejays are 76-52-15 all-time against Top-25 opponents, and 4-2-1 this season.

Creighton is 27-24-10 on the road against Top-25 opponents, including 2-2-0 during 2016 following its 1-1-0 showing during the BIG EAST Tournament.

Magic of Myles
Myles Englis scored only two goals during the regular season, but has scored five goals through four 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 Creighton's semifinal match at Providence, Englis scored the game-winning goal during the 41st minute.

Englis also scored Creighton's only goal against Butler during the BIG EAST title match.

The senior added to his postseason toal with a goal during the sixth minute against Tulsa during the NCAA First Round.

Men's Soccer Travels to Kentucky for NCAA Second Round

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Players Mentioned

Myles Englis

Noah Franke

Alex Kapp

Michael Kluver

Mitch LaGro

Riggs Lennon

Ricky Lopez-Espin

Ricardo Perez

Joel Rydstrand

Lucas Stauffer

Evan Waldrep