No. 14 Men's Soccer Hosts No. 17 Virginia Tech and Grand Canyon To Open Regular Season

Friday, Aug. 25 | No. 17 Virginia Tech at No. 14 Creighton | Omaha, Neb. | 7:00 p.m. (CST)

Sunday, Aug. 27 | Grand Canyon at No. 14 Creighton | Omaha, Neb. | 7:00 p.m. (CST)

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The Creighton men's soccer team opens its 2017 regular season against Virginia Tech (Friday) and Grand Canyon (Sunday).

Follow The Match
A live video webcast of both matches will be available free of charge at GoCreighton.com/JaysVideo. Friday's broadcast will feature Donny Baarns (play-by-play) and Rob Simms (color commentary), and Sunday's broadcast team will be Josh Peterson (play-by-play) and Jon Schriner (color commentary).

Friday's match against Virginia Tech will also feature a Spanish radio broadcast on La Nueva (99.5 FM & 1020 AM in the Omaha area and online: http://player.listenlive.co/49031/es).

Live stats for the each of the contests can be found at Creighton.Statbroadcast.com.

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

Scouting No. 17 Virginia Tech
The Hokies closed the 2016 season with an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Third Team NSCAA All-American Marcelo Acuna returns after leading Virginia Tech with 11 goals last season, and is one of nine starters returning from last season. Acuna was also listed on the 2017 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.

Senior goalkeeper Ben Lundgaard also returns after posting a 0.93 goals against average and recording eight shutouts during 2016.

Series History vs. Hokies
Creighton and Virginia Tech have not met prior to Friday night's match.

Scouting Grand Canyon
Under the direction of Schellas Hyndman, the Lopes finished last season fifth in the WAC.

The 2017 season marks Grand Canyon's first season of Division I postseason eligibility.

Senior Niki Jackson will lead the Lopes after being named the 2016 WAC Offensive Player of the Year. Jackson scored 16 goals, the third-most in country, and recorded a pair of hat tricks.

Junior Evan Waldrep transferred to GCU after spending two seasons at Creighton.

Series History vs. Lopes
Sunday's meeting between Creighton and Grand Canyon will mark the first match between the two schools.

Preseason Recap
The Bluejays finished their exhibition schedule 3-0-0 with victories over SIU Edwardsville and Ohio State at home and against Wisconsin on the road.

Ricky Lopez-Espin scored twice, including during the final moments against SIUE (Aug. 12) to lift Creighton to a 2-1 victory during the opening match of the preseason.

Newcomer Marios Lomis scored the lone goal during the Bluejays' 1-0 victory at Wisconsin (Aug. 16).

Anthony Macchione and Luke Haakenson each found the back of the net during a 2-0 shutout of Ohio State (Aug. 19) to end the preseason portion of the schedule.

Season-Opener Success
Creighton is unbeaten in its last 10 lid-lifters (8-0-2). The program's last season-opening loss came against No. 12 Indiana (Aug. 25, 2006), 1-0 in double overtime during the Berticelli Memorial in South Bend, Ind.

The Bluejays are 19-2-6 during their first match of the season since Creighton restarted its men's soccer program in 1990.

In 34 overall seasons, the Bluejays are 23-5-6 during season-opening matches.

Creighton opened the 2016 campaign with a 2-0 victory over No. 25 Rutgers on Aug. 26. Lucas Stauffer converted a penalty kick before Riggs Lennon added a second goal.

The shutout also marked Creighton's fourth consecutive clean sheet in a season-opening match.

Home-Opener Success Too
Friday is not only the season-opener, but it is also the first of nine regular-season home matches for Creighton.

The Bluejays have yet to lose a home-opener at Morrison Stadium (10-0-4) and have not lost their first home match of the season since 1995 (3-1 vs. No. 20 Duke).

Creighton is 26-3-5 all-time in home-opening matches.

Fortress Morrison
Creighton is 123-22-17 overall at Morrison Stadium, including a 9-2-2 mark at home during the 2016 season.

Creighton has never lost consecutive matches at Morrison Stadium and has not lost two-straight home matches since 1985 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Bolowich Seeking Milestone
Head coach Elmar Bolowich is one win away from tying Bret Simon for the second-most wins in program history. A win during Friday's match would be Bolowich's 96th victory during seven seasons at Creighton.

Below is a list of the winningest coaches in Bluejay soccer history.

Coach   W-L-T   Years with program
Bob Warming   190-61-34   1990-94, 2001-09
Bret Simon   96-26-8   1995-2000
Elmar Bolowich   95-29-12   2011-Present

Creighton vs. Top 25
The Bluejays are 77-52-15 all-time against Top-25 opponents, and went 5-2-1 during the 2016 season.

Creighton is 41-12-4 at home against teams ranked in the top 25 of the NSCAA poll, which includes a 2-0-1 mark last season.

Additionally, this season marks the fourth time in the past five years in which the Bluejays have opened the season against a ranked opponent. Creighton is 3-0-0 in those previous three matches and has not allowed a goal.

Top 25 Jays
Creighton was ranked No. 14 in the United Soccer Coaches (previously NSCAA) Preseason Top 25 that was released on Aug. 3.

This is the 15th time in the past 18 seasons in which the Bluejays were ranked in the top 25 of the preseason coaches poll.

Creighton is also No. 14 in the College Soccer News Preseason Top 30, and No. 9 in the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Poll.

Top 25 Season-Opening Matchup
Friday marks the second consecutive top-25 matchup to begin the season for the Bluejays.

Last season Creighton opened the year ranked No. 7 in the preseason and played at preseason No. 25 Rutgers.

This year is also the first time since 2013 the Bluejays will open the season with a top-20 matchup.

Creighton opened the season No. 6 in preseason and hosted preseason No. 14 Tulsa to begin the 2013 season.

The Bluejays last season-opening loss came during a top-20 matchup between No. 8 Creighton and No. 12 Indiana at the start of the 2006 season.

No. 14 Men's Soccer Hosts No. 17 Virginia Tech and Grand Canyon To Open Regular Season

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Players Mentioned

Luke Haakenson

Riggs Lennon

Marios Lomis

Ricky Lopez-Espin

Anthony Macchione

Lucas Stauffer

Evan Waldrep