Creighton University
St. John's
Men's Soccer Plays Host To #7 St. John's On Saturday Night
10/17/2019 11:30:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Bluejays are 5-1-0 at home this season
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Creighton returns to Morrison Stadium for a match against nationally ranked St. John's.Â
Follow the Match
Saturday's match will be broadcast on JAYS Video. The match will also be televised locally by Cox/YurView (channel 1013 on Cox HD).
Live stats will be provided via StatBroadcast.
Links to live stats and video streams can be found on the Creighton Men's Soccer schedule page.
Updates will be provided on Twitter (@CreightonMSOC), Facebook (Facebook.com/CreightonSoccer) and Instagram (CreightonMSOC).
Scouting Creighton (6-4-1, 2-2-0 BIG EAST)
The Bluejays enter Saturday searching for their first win during the month of October.
Creighton ended September with a 6-2 record but has dropped a pair of road matches this month.
The Bluejays are 2-2 in BIG EAST play with all four matches being decided by a 1-0 result.Â
Luke Haakenson leads Creighton with four goals and five other Bluejays each have a pair of goals.Â
Musa Qongo paces the team with four assists while six other players each have at least two.Â
Creighton averages 1.45 goals per match, while Paul Kruse and Collin Valdivia have combined for a 1.23 goals against average.
Kruse is 2-1-1, but has not played since Sept. 9, while Valdivia claims four victories (4-2-0), including two shutouts against BIG EAST opposition.Â
Head coach Johnny Torres is in his first year at the helm of the Bluejays after spending 12 years as an assistant coach.
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Scouting St. John's (11-1-0, 4-0-0 BIG EAST)
The Red Storm head to Omaha with an 11-1 record for the team's best start since 1993, when St. John's won 13 of its first 14 decisions and opened the campaign with a 21-game unbeaten streak. Â
St. John's is also 4-0-0 in BIG EAST play for the first time since 2003.
The Red Storm rank fifth nationally with a 0.404 goals against average and eight shutouts. St. John's has not allowed a goal in 360 consecutive minutes (four matches). The last goal the team conceited was a golden goal at Maryland for the Red Storm's lone loss (Sept. 23).Â
During BIG EAST play, St. John's is outscoring its opponents 12-1 with three shutouts.Â
Jan Hoffelner and Luka Gavran have split time in net for the Red Storm. Hoffelner owns a 0.31 goals against average (two goals allowed) in 585 minutes of work, while Gavran claims a 0.51 mark (three goals against) in 530 minutes.Â
Tani Oluwaseyi paces the BIG EAST's best offense with 17 points from a team-leading seven goals and three assists. Skage Simonsen leads the team with five assists. The Red Storm are averaging 2.33 goals per match, which ranks 11th nationally.
Dr. Dave Masur is in his 29th season as head coach at St. John's and ranks seventh nationally among active coaches with 417 victories.
Series History Against Red Storm
Creighton leads the all-time series against St. John's, 5-3-2.
The Bluejays recorded a 3-1 win last year at St. John's.
The Bluejays and Red Storm played to a 2-2 at Morrison Stadium in 2017 during a match that ended the 81st minute because of lightning.Â
Creighton is 2-0-1 against St. John's in Omaha, including a 1-0 double overtime win against the No. 7 Red Storm during the Bluejays' first BIG EAST regular-season match (Sept. 21, 2013).Â
Last Time Out
Despite holding a 17-7 edge in shot attempts, the Creighton fell 1-0 to Xavier on Oct. 11 in Cincinnati.
The Musketeers scored the lone goal of the match during the 20th minute on a penalty kick.
Creighton tallied 17 shots, including five on goal, but failed to find the back of the net. Luke Haakenson paced the team with four shots (two on goal) while Tor Trosten and Yudai Tashiro each had three a piece.
The Bluejays tallied seven shots in the first 45 minutes of play and forced three Musketeer saves.
Creighton continued to apply pressure in the second half and added 10 more shots to its total.Â
The Bluejays recorded two shots on goal in the second half and controlled possession for the majority of stanza but did not convert an equalizer.
Senior goalkeeper Collin Valdivia recorded two saves, including one with on a diving attempt in the early portion of the second half.
Bluejays All-Time vs. Top 25 Competition
Creighton is 80-57-16 all-time against United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA) Top-25 opponents.
The Bluejays are 1-1-1 this season against the top 25, which includes a 1-0-0 mark at home.Â
Creighton is 43-14-4 at home against Top-25 opponents, including 33-7-3 at Morrison Stadium.Â
Saturday marks the Bluejays' 12th match at Morrison Stadium against a team ranked inside the top 10.
Creighton is 8-1-2 in the previous 11 matches. Â
Fortress Morrison
Creighton is 141-26-21 overall at Morrison Stadium (opened in 2003), including a 5-1-0 mark this year.
The Bluejays are outscoring their opponents 13-9 during home matches this season.Â
Creighton finished 2018 with a 6-2-3 record at home and owned shutouts during six of those 10 matches.
The Bluejays have never lost consecutive matches at Morrison Stadium during the same season.Â
Creighton is 59-11-8 at Morrison Stadium since the start of 2013 when the program joined the BIG EAST. The Bluejays are also 20-5-2 during regular-season BIG EAST matches at Morrison Stadium.
Creighton Ranks Third In Average Home Attendance
Creighton ranks third nationally in average home attendance (through matches played Oct. 16) with an average of 2,581 fans per match.Â
2019 Division I Avg. Attendance Leaders (10/17)
Rk. Team Games Total Avg.
1. UC Santa Barbara 9 23,928 2,659
2. Maryland 7 18,208 2,601
3. Creighton 6 15,488 2,581
4. Indiana 7 16,908 2,415
5. Grand Canyon 5 12,042 2,408
6. Saint Louis 5 10,845 2,169
7. Virginia 8 17,183 2,148
8. Wake Forest 8 16,442 2,055
9. Clemson 8 15,694 1,962
10. Akron 6 11,444 1,907
The Bluejays' match against Akron (Sept. 6) drew a crowd of 4,818, which is the fourth largest single-game attendance this season across all of Division I men's soccer. UC Santa Barbara hosted Cal Poly in front of 9,748 on Oct. 5 for the high single-game attendance this season.
Creighton's match against UNO on Sept. 16 had an attendance of 4,096, which is the ninth-highest this season.
Creighton ranked third nationally in average home attendance during the 2018 season as the Bluejays averaged 2,718 fans during 11 matches.
Home Sweet Home
Creighton was away from Omaha only once from Sept. 3-Oct. 2.
The Bluejays played four consecutive home matches before starting BIG EAST play on Sept. 20 at Marquette and concluding the month of September with two additional home matches.Â
Saturday marks Creighton's first home match since its 1-0 win against Villanova on Sept. 28. The Bluejays have two other regular season matches scheduled to be played at Morrison Stadium (Wednesday and Nov. 2).
Bluejays' Low Scoring Start To BIG EAST Play
Creighton has started BIG EAST play with four consecutive 1-0 results (two wins, two losses).Â
This season marks the Bluejays' second time since joining the BIG EAST that only four combined goals were scored through the first four matches of the
conference schedule and the first time in program history (including 22 seasons in Missouri Valley) that each of the first four league matches have ended exactly 1-0.Â
Creighton's two goals allowed through the first four matches is the third-lowest total for the team since joining the BIG EAST as the Bluejays allowed only one in the first four league contests to start the 2018 and 2013 seasons.Â
Creighton's goal total through the first four matches of league play is the fewest since joining the BIG EAST (previous low of three in 2013).
The Bluejays averaged 16.3 goals per conference season (1.81 per match) the past six years. Creighton is currently on pace to score only five goals during league play, which would be nine fewer than its previous BIG EAST low of 14 in 2013.
Creighton posted a 0.65 goals against average during last year, which tied the 2014 mark for the team's lowest GAA since joining the league in 2013. The Bluejays currently hold a 0.50 goals against average through four league matches.Â
Creighton Through First Four Matches of BIG EAST Play
Year  Goals Scored    Goals Allowed
2013 3 1
2014 7 3
2015 8 3
2016 10 3
2017 6 7
2018 8 1
2019 2 2
