Creighton University
Grand Canyon
No. 20 Men's Soccer Visits Grand Canyon and South Florida During Labor Day Weekend Road Trip
8/29/2018 2:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Bluejays play Lopes on Friday in Phoenix before facing Bulls on Monday in Tampa
Monday, Sept. 3Â | No. 20 Creighton at South Florida | Tampa, Fla. | 6:00 p.m. (CST)
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Creighton embarks on its first road trip of the season with matches against Grand Canyon in Phoenix on Friday night and South Florida in Tampa on Monday night.
Follow the Match
Friday's match at Grand Canyon will be featured on GCU.TV which can be found on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7U0YmT9a44).
Monday's match will feature a live stream on YouTube. A link to the stream can be found on the Creighton Men's Soccer schedule page.Â
Live stats for each contest can be found at Creighton.Statbroadcast.com.
Bluejay fans can also stay updated through the Creighton men's soccer Twitter feed:Â Twitter.com/CreightonMSOC.
Scouting Creighton
The Bluejays started the 2018 season with a pair of shutouts at home.
Creighton downed No. 11 Clemson 2-0 during the season-opener and battled UC Davis to a scoreless draw.Â
Ziyad Fares and Anthony Macchione each recorded a goal, while Akeem Ward tallied two assists, and Younes Boudadi had one.Â
Freshman goalkeeper Paul Kruse claimed clean sheets during each of the two matches, as Creighton opened the year with consecutive shutouts for the first time since 2015.
Scouting Grand Canyon
The Lopes opened the fall with a 2-1 victory at home against No. 12 Wisconsin.Â
Senior Alex Radilla converted the first goal, while freshman Calvin Kissi tallied the game-winner.
Grand Canyon returned 14 players, including only two starters from last season's squad that finished 7-11-1. The team also welcomed 17 newcomers.
Head coach Schellas Hyndman is in his fourth season at the helm of Grand Canyon.
Scouting South Florida
The Bulls launched the new year with a road trip to Michigan and faced a pair of Big Ten schools.
South Florida fell 1-0 to No. 7 Michigan State on Friday before a 2-0 loss against No. 21 Michigan on Monday.
The Bulls return 16 players from last season's squad that finished 6-6-4, and welcomed nine newcomers for 2018.Â
Senior goalkeeper Christain Knight earned American Conference Preason Goalkeeper of the Year honors.Â
Head coach Bob Butehorn is in his second year at South Florida.Â
Series History Against the Lopes
Creighton and Grand Canyon met for the first time last season as the Bluejays recorded a 1-0 double overtime victory at Morrison Stadium.Â
Series History Against the Bulls
Creighton leads the all-time series against South Florida 3-0-0.
The Bluejays defeated the Bulls 2-0 last year in Omaha.Â
Monday marks the first meeting between the two sides in Tampa.Â
Bluejays Rank 20th in United Soccer Coaches Poll
Creighton is ranked 20th in the first regular-season United Soccer Coaches Poll, the organization announced on Tuesday.
The Bluejays opened the season with a pair of shutouts for a 1-0-1 record. Creighton upset preseason No. 11 Clemson, 2-0, on Friday night before playing 110 minutes of scoreless soccer for a 0-0 draw against UC Davis on Sunday.
Creighton is one of 10 teams in this week's poll that did not appear in the preseason Top 25. Additionally, Creighton is one of two BIG EAST schools listed in the poll, as Butler checked in at No. 11. Georgetown (32), Marquette (5) and Xavier (3) each received votes.Â
This week marks the first time the Bluejays are listed in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 since being ranked 25th on Sept. 26, 2017.Â
Wake Forest claimed the top spot in the rankings with 24 first place votes, while Duke, Washington, Akron and Michigan State rounded out the top five.
Creighton has been ranked nationally for at least three weeks during each of the past 27 seasons.Â
Bluejays Post Pair of Shutouts To Open Season
Creighton opened the 2018 regular season with consecutive shutouts, marking the first time the Bluejays accomplished that feat during the first two matches since 2015.Â
The Bluejays kicked off the season with a 2-0 upset of No. 11 Clemson (Aug. 24).Â
Ziyad Fares and Anthony Macchione each scored during the first half of the match, while Akeem Ward tallied assists on each play. Â
Creighton followed its two-goal victory with a 0-0 draw against UC Davis (Aug. 26).
The Bluejays ended the match with a 21-9 advantage in shots.Â
Ward Named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week
Senior Akeem Ward earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors, the league announced on Monday afternoon.
The Vienna, Virginia native, tallied two assists during the Bluejays' season-opening upset victory of No. 11 Clemson on Friday night. He also helped guide Creighton to consecutive shutouts during the opening weekend for the first time since 2015, as the Bluejays defeated No. 11 Clemson 2-0 before battling UC Davis to a scoreless draw on Sunday.Â
The Creighton defense held Clemson to only five shots, including none on goal, and limited UC Davis to only one shot on goal during 110 minutes of game action.Â
Ward is the first Bluejay to be named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week since Mitch LaGro earned similar accolades on Oct. 3, 2016.
Ward also earned a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer Men's Team of Week.
The senior defender tallied only two assists during his first 29 games played at Creighton over the past two seasons.
Kruse Opens Career With Two Clean Sheets
Freshman goalie Paul Kruse opened his Creighton career with a pair of shutouts.Â
The Heilbronn, Germany native did not record a save during the Bluejays' 2-0 victory against Clemson, and needed to make only one during a scoreless draw with UC Davis.
Kruse is the first Bluejay to post shutouts in the first two starts of his Creighton career since Zac Gibbens in 2004.Â
Kruse is seeking to become the first goalie since the Bluejays reinstated their men's soccer program (1990) to record shutouts during the first three starts of his career.Â
Former Bluejay Kevin Doyle Roaming GCU Sideline
Former Creighton goalkeeper Kevin Doyle enters his second season as an assistant coach on the Grand Canyon sideline.Â
Doyle played for the Bluejays from 1990-92, and earned 1992 Defensive Player of the Year honors from the Missouri Valley Conference.
Similar to Kruse, Doyle opened his career with consecutive shutouts.Â
Doyle gave up a goal during the third start of his career, a 2-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton.
He also roamed the Creighton sidelines as an assistant coach from 2001-06 under head coach Bob Warming.
Current Creighton assistant coach Michael Gabb trained under the direction of Doyle for two seasons.Â
First Road Match of the Season
The Bluejays are 8-1-1 during the last 10 seasons in their first road match.Â
Last season's 3-0 loss at No. 1 Stanford marked Creighton's first defeat during the squad's first road match of the year since 2006 (at No. 15 Notre Dame, 4-1 loss).
Creighton is 19-5-3 since 1990 in its first true road match of the season.
Overall, the Bluejays are 31-23-7 during all road games under the direction of head coach Elmar Bolowich (since 2011). Creighton finished 2-6-1 during road matches last season.
The last time Creighton finished unbeaten during road matches was 2014 when the team tallied a 4-0-2 mark.Â
