Men's Soccer Takes On Tulsa During Midweek Home Match

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Tuesday, Sept. 19 | Tulsa at Creighton | Omaha, Neb. | 7:00 p.m. (CST)

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Creighton plays its first of four mid-week matches of the 2017 season as the Bluejays host Tulsa on Tuesday night at Morrison Stadium.

Follow The Match
Tuesday's match will be broadcast on FOX Sports Go which can be found at FOXSportsGo.com or on the FOX Sports Go App. Josh Peterson will handle the play-by-play duties, while former Bluejay Vincent Odorisio (2003-05) will provide color commentary.

The match 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 contest 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 Creighton (3-3-0)
The Bluejays enter Tuesday's match following a loss at Butler during the first match of the BIG EAST schedule.

Senior forward Ricky Lopez-Espin leads the Bluejays with three goals. He also owns an assist to pace the squad with seven points.

Joel Rydstrand leads the team and ranks fifth in the BIG EAST with three assists.

Returner Noah Franke has a goal and an assist, while newcomers Marios Lomis and Kuba Polat each have found the back of the net for the Bluejays.

Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Michael Kluver owns two shutouts and one combined shutout through his first six career starts as a Bluejay.

Last Time Out
The Creighton men's soccer team opened the BIG EAST portion of the 2017 schedule with a 3-2 loss in overtime to Butler on Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field in Indianapolis.

Creighton's Ricky Lopez-Espin scored two goals to give the Jays a 2-0 lead, but host Butler scored three unanswered goals, including a golden goal by Alex Lehtinen during the 93rd minute, and recorded a come-from-behind victory during the first day of BIG EAST play.

Scouting Tulsa (2-2-1)
The Golden Hurricane fell 2-1 to Brown during their most previous match on Friday night.

Rollie Rocha leads Tulsa with three goals through seven matches. He scored a pair of penalty kicks during the Golden Hurricane's 2-0 victory over then-No. 1 and undeafeated Stanford.

Tulsa averages 15.0 shots and 1.6 goals per match.

The Golden Hurricane are 3-of-4 on penalty kick attempts.

Head coach Tom McIntosh is in his 23rd season at Tulsa.

Series History vs. Golden Hurricane
Creighton leads the all-time series against Tulsa 18-10-3.

The Bluejays and Golden Hurricane split a pair of matches last season. Tulsa picked up a come-from-behind 2-1 victory during the 2016 regular sesaon before Creighton eliminated the Golden Hurricane from the postseason with a 3-0 victory during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Creighton is 12-2-1 against Tulsa in Omaha, including a 6-1-1 record at Morrison Stadium.

Fortress Morrison
Creighton is 125-23-17 overall at Morrison Stadium, including a 9-2-2 mark at home during the 2016 season.

Creighton is 2-1-0 at home so far this season.

The Bluejays have never lost consecutive matches at Morrison Stadium during the same season (since 2003).

Creighton's loss at Morrison Stadium against No. 17 Virginia Tech to open the 2017 season followed the team's loss at home to end last season (2-1 vs. Providence), marking the first time since 1985 that Creighton had lost consecutive home matches (spanning across two seasons).

Unusual Lost Lead
Creighton's loss on Saturday marked only its second under head coach Elmar Bolowich when leading at the half. The Bluejays led 1-0 at the half before falling 3-2 in overtime.
The Bluejays are 59-2-2 under Bolowich when leading at halftime.

The Bluejays' loss during the 2016 regular season against Tulsa (Oct. 11, 2016) was its first when leading at the half the during coach Elmar Bolowich's tenure as the Bluejay head man. Creighton had been 54-0-3 in its previous 57 matches with a halftime lead, with its last loss coming Nov. 12, 2010 at Bradley.

Creighton also dropped just its eighth match under Bolowich when scoring first on Saturday afternoon.

The Jays are 84-8-3 under Bolowich when scoring first.

By contrast, CU is 6-15-2 when trailing at the half and 14-24-4 when the opposition scores first.

Bluejays Rank Among Top in Attendance
Creighton currently ranks ninth in total home attendance (9,304) and fifth in average home attendance (3,101).

Below is a list of the average attendance leaders during the 2017 season (as of Sept. 18).

   Rk.   Team       Games   Total   Avg
   1.   Maryland       5   21,920   4,384
   2.   Cal Poly       1   3,907   3,907
   3.   UConn       6   21,888   3,648
   4.   South Carolina       4   13,667   3,417
   5.   Creighton       3   9,304   3,101
   6.   Clemson       4   11,280   2,820
   7.   Utah Valley       4   10,055   2,514
   8.   Wake Forest       5   11,884   2,377
   9.   Portland       5   11,768   2,354
   10.   Louisville       4   9,197   2,299

Creighton ended the 2016 season ranked sixth nationally in total home attendance (33,836) and sixth in average home attendance (2,608).

Last season marked the 13th straight season the Bluejays have finished in the top-10 nationally in average home attendance.

Below is a list of the top 10 nationally in average home attendance for the 2016 season.

   Rk.   Team       Games   Total   Avg
   1.   Maryland       13   52,189   4,015
   2.   UConn       10   38,225   3,823
   3.   UC Santa Barbara       11   38,093   3,463
   4.   Cal Poly       8   22,762   2,845
   5.   Clemson       14   36,903   2,636
   6.   Creighton       13   33,836   2,603
   7.   Grand Canyon       9   22,568   2,508
   8.   South Carolina       12   29,493   2,458
   9.   Louisville       14   32,463   2,319
   10.   Portland       8   18,382   2,298

Bolowich Moves Into Second on Wins List
Head coach Elmar Bolowich took over sole possession of second on Creighton's all-time wins list with a 3-0 victory over Cal on Sept. 3. Bolowich is currently 98-32-12 as head man of the Bluejays since taking over before the 2011 season.

Bolowich passed Bret Simon, who coached at Creighton from 1995-2000 and was inducted into the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame on April 23, 2017.

Bolowich now trails only Bob Warming on Creighton's all-time wins list.

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
Elmar Bolowich    98-32-12   2011-Present
Bret Simon   96-26-8   1995-2000

Two-Goal Match
Ricky Lopez-Espin scored a pair of goals against Butler during the BIG EAST regular-season opener (Sept. 16) for the Bluejays' first multi-goal match of 2017.

Creighton had a total of five individuals record at least two goals in a match during the 2016 season (Joel Rydstrand, Riggs Lennon, Ricardo Perez, Lopez-Espin, Myles Englis).

Creighton vs. Top 25
The Bluejays are 77-54-15 all-time against United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA) Top-25 opponents, and are 0-2-0 so far this season.

Creighton is 41-13-4 at home against Top-25 competition, including 0-1-0 during 2017.

The Bluejays went 5-2-1 against the Top 25 during the 2016 season.

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

The Bluejays are currently ranked outside the Top 25 of the coaches poll for the first time since the 2014 preseason.

Rare .500 record
The Bluejays hold exactly a 3-3 record for the first time since the program restarted in 1990.

The last time Creighton held a .500 winning percentage or worse through six matches was during the 2003 season when the team started 2-2-2.

Creighton's last season in which the team did not record four or more victories through the first six matches was in 2009 when the Bluejays were 3-2-1 after six matches. The 2009 season also marked the only time in the past 25 years in which Creighton did not make the NCAA Tournament.

Three Is The Magic Number
Creighton finished 9-0-0 when scoring three or more goals last season.

The Jays have scored three goals once so far during the 2017 season (3-0 W at Cal).

The Bluejays have won their last 43 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 223 times in program history while going 219-1-3 in those matches.

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

Overtime Victory
Creighton's 1-0 victory over Grand Canyon (Aug. 27) in double overtime marked the Bluejays' first win during a match that went extra time since Sept. 21, 2013 against No. 7 St. John's (1-0, 2OT).

Creighton's previous 13 overtime matches prior to Aug. 27 had resulted in either a draw or loss (eight draws, five losses).

The Bluejays are 9-6-12 during matches that needed extra time under the direction of Elmar Bolowich (since start of 2011) following Saturday's loss against Butler.

Men's Soccer Takes On Tulsa During Midweek Home Match

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Players Mentioned

Myles Englis

Noah Franke

Michael Kluver

Riggs Lennon

Marios Lomis

Ricky Lopez-Espin

Ricardo Perez

Kuba Polat

Joel Rydstrand