Creighton University
Butler
Men's Soccer Hosts Butler For Senior Night On Saturday
10/30/2019 3:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Nine Bluejay seniors will be recognized before the final home match of the season
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Creighton hosts Butler for the Bluejays' final home match of the regular season.
Follow the Match
Saturday's match will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network, which can be streamed on Twitter (@BIGEASTChamps), YouTube (youtube.com/BIGEASTConference) or Caffeine TV (www.caffeine.tv/bedn). The match will also be televised locally by Cox/YurView (channel 1013 on Cox HD).
The match will also feature a Spanish radio broadcast on La Nueva (99.5 FM & 1020 AM in the Omaha area and online). Â
Live stats will be provided via StatBroadcast.
Links to live stats, audio 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 (7-6-1, 3-4-0 BIG EAST)
The Bluejays close out the regular season home schedule in search of their seventh win at Morrison Stadium.
Creighton is 6-2-0 at home, compared to just 1-4-1 on the road.
The Bluejays started the year 2-0 in BIG EAST play with a pair of shutouts, but are 1-4 since with three goals scored and sit in a three-way tie for fifth place with nine points (see below).Â
Luke Haakenson leads Creighton with five goals and Yudai Tashiro owns four.
Musa Qongo paces the team with four assists while three other players have three a piece.Â
Creighton averages 1.36 goals per match, while goalkeepers Paul Kruse and Collin Valdivia have combined for a 1.31 goals against average.
Head coach Johnny Torres is in his first year at the helm of the Bluejays after spending 12 years as an assistant coach.
Scouting Butler (9-5-1, 3-3-1 BIG EAST)
The Bulldogs moved into fourth place in the BIG EAST standings with 10 points after a 1-0 double overtime victory against Villanova on Sunday afternoon.Â
Butler finished the month of October with a 5-1-1 record, including 3-1-1 in league play and 3-1-0 on the road.
Brandon Guhl leads the Bulldogs with 16 points from a team-high seven goals and two assists.
Freshman Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. ranks second on the team in points (15) from six goals and three assists.
Gabriel Gjergji has played each minute in goal for Butler and owns a 1.07 goals against average with five shutouts.Â
Head coach Paul Snape is in his ninth season at Butler.Â
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Series History Against Bulldogs
Creighton leads the all-time series against Butler, 7-2-1.
The Bluejays tallied a 3-0 win against the Bulldogs last year at Morrison Stadium.
Creighton is 3-0-1 against Butler at home, including three shutouts.Â
Last Time Out
Creighton fell 3-2 in overtime to Providence on Oct. 26 in Rhode Island.
Providence converted the golden goal during the 98th minute to end the match.Â
Saturday marked the third consecutive overtime match between the Bluejays and Friars. Creighton and Providence played scoreless draws during both 2018 and 2017.Â
Yudai Tashiro tallied his first career multi-goal match as a Bluejay with a pair of free-kick goals.Â
Tashiro's first goal gave Creighton an early edge during the eighth minute. The senior launched an 18-yard free kick into the back of the net for his third goal of the season. Jake Ashford drew a foul at the top of the 18-yard box to set up the early free kick.Â
The goal marked the Bluejays' first shot of the match.Â
Providence evened the match with a goal during the 42nd minute.Â
The Friars held a 12-5 shot advantage during the first 45 minutes and Paul Kruse made a pair of saves in the opening half for the Bluejays. Providence also produced six corners before
halftime while Creighton attempted only one as the two sides played to a 1-1 tie.Â
Providence continued to control possession during the second half and outshot the Bluejays 10-2 during the second 45-minute stanza.
The Friars gained a 2-1 lead with a goal during the 81st minute.Â
Creighton found an equalizer less than five minutes after Providence's go-ahead goal. Tashiro converted his second goal of the match with a free kick from 19 yards out during the 85 minute to tie the match at 2-2. The senior's strike was only the Bluejays' second shot in the second half.Â
Providence ended the match with a 25-7 advantage in shot attempts and attempted 13 corner kicks to the Bluejays' one.
Official RPI Rankings
Creighton is ranked No. 61 in this week's NCAA RPI Rankings (released Oct. 28).
The BIG EAST Conference is ranked second among 24 Division I conferences in terms of RPI ranking.
Georgetown owns the No. 1 overall spot in the RPI, while St. John's is No. 3. All 10 of the BIG EAST teams are in the top 68.Â
Butler is No. 27 in this week's rankings.
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Senior Night At Morrison Stadium
Creighton will honor nine seniors prior to Saturday's match.
The Bluejays have three fifth-year seniors (Bryce Gibson, Connor Ramlo, Collin Valdivia), two who are in their fourth years in the Creighton program (Julius Fohr and Luke Haakenson) and four transfers who are each in their second season with the Bluejays (Younes Boudadi, Ziyad Fares, Yudai Tashiro and Tor Trosten).
Tashiro Nets Pair of Free Kick Goals
Yudai Tashiro scored two goals off of free kicks against Providence (Oct. 26).Â
The two-goal performance marked his first multi-goal match as a Bluejay.Â
The Bluejay senior owns four goals this season to rank second on the team. All four of his goals have come on free kicks (three direct, one indirect).
Tashiro's recent two-goal performance earned him a spot on this week's BIG EAST weekly honor roll. Â
Kruse Back In Goal
Paul Kruse started on Oct. 19 against St. John's for his first appearance since Sept. 9 against Columbia.
The sophomore was listed as the BIG EAST Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, but missed seven matches because of injury.
The Heilbronn, Germany native posted his first shutout of the season on Wednesday against DePaul.
Kruse has allowed 10 goals during 648 minutes this season (1.39 GAA).Â
He did not miss a minute last season and held a 0.64 goals against average with seven shutouts (12 goals allowed).Â
BIG EAST Shutouts
Creighton owns three shutouts during BIG EAST play, which ranks third in the conference.Â
The Bluejays opened league play with a 1-0 win at Marquette (Sept. 20), posted a 1-0 victory against Villanova (Sept. 28) and most recently held DePaul off the scoreboard with a 1-0 result on Oct. 23.
The most BIG EAST shutouts the Bluejays have had in a single season is four, during both the 2018 and 2014 campaigns.
Conversely, three of the Bluejays' four league losses this season have been shutouts.Â
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BIG EAST Standings Picture
Creighton enters Saturday in a three-way tie with Xavier and Marquette for fifth place in the BIG EAST standings.
The Bluejays are 3-4 with nine points, while the Musketeers and Golden Eagles own identical records for nine points.
Creighton defeated Marquette, but Xavier downed the Bluejays.
The top six teams in the final regular season standings qualify for the 2019 BIG EAST Championship presented by Jeep.
The Bluejays cannot clinch a spot on Saturday or be eliminated.Â
Only Georgetown (19 points) and St. John's (16) have clinched spots in the postseason field.Â
None of the teams have been eliminated.Â
Creighton still has the opportunity to finish as high as third in the standings or as low as 10th (last).Â
Better Late Than Never
The Bluejays' victory on Oct. 23 marked their fourth with a game-winning goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation or overtime. Luke Haakenson owns two of the dramatic winners.
Creighton had only one game-winning goal last season during the final 10 minutes of regulation (Sept. 29, 2018 against Seton Hall).
Creighton GW Goals During Final 10 Mins or OT
Date     Opponent       GW Goal Time (Scorer)
9/16/19 Nebraska-Omaha 87:58 (Haakenson)
9/20/19 Marquette 85:01 (Espeleta)
9/24/19 Tulsa 105:44 (Tashiro)
10/23/19 DePaul 80:05 (Haakenson)
Fortress Morrison
Creighton is 142-27-21 overall at Morrison Stadium (opened in 2003), including a 6-2-0 mark this year.
The Bluejays are outscoring their opponents 14-11 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 60-12-8 at Morrison Stadium since the start of 2013 when the program joined the BIG EAST. The Bluejays are also 21-6-2 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. 29) with an average of 2,356 fans per match.Â
2019 Division I Avg. Attendance Leaders (10/30)
Rk. Team Games Total Avg.
1. Maryland 9 24,177 2,686
2. UC Santa Barbara 10 24,378 2,438
3. Creighton 7 18,849 2,356
4. Wake Forest 11 23,878 2,171
5. Virginia 10 21,405 2,141
6. Grand Canyon 7 13,976 1,997
7. Indiana 10 19,929 1,993
8. Saint Louis 6 11,853 1,976
9. Clemson 10 18,808 1,881
10. Utah Valley 6 11,145 1,858
The Bluejays' match against Akron (Sept. 6) drew a crowd of 4,818, which is the fifth 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 10th-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.Â
