Creighton University
Georgetown
Men's Soccer Matches Up With #2 Georgetown in BIG EAST Semifinal On Thursday
4/13/2021 4:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Bluejays searching for first BIG EAST postseason win since 2016
Thursday, April 15 | Creighton (6-5) at #2 Georgetown (7-0-2) | Washington, D.C. | 11 a.m. Central
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Creighton opens postseason play at the BIG EAST Men's Soccer Championship Presented by JEEP with a semifinal match against Georgetown on Thursday.
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Follow the Match
Thursday's match will feature live video and live stats.
Live video will be featured on BEDN, which can be found on YouTube.com/BIGEASTConference while live stats will be provided by GUHoyas.com.
Links to video and live stats will be provided on the Creighton Men's Soccer schedule page.
Updates will be provided on Twitter (@CreightonMSOC).
Scouting Creighton (6-5-0)
The Bluejays head into the postseason after securing the No. 2 slot in the BIG EAST Midwest Division. Creighton went 5-3-0 during league play with home-and-home contests against the other four division teams (Butler, DePaul, Marquette, Xavier).
Senior Diego Gutierrez led the Bluejays during the regular-season and tied for the lead in the BIG EAST with 16 points from five goals and six assists. His six assists ranked at the top of the conference and his goal total is tied for fourth. He owns 15 goals and 19 assists during his collegiate career after spending three seasons at crosstown foe UNO (University of Nebraska Omaha).
Gutierrez's 16 points ranks 22nd nationally and his six assists rank 12th.
Duncan McGuire led all BIG EAST freshmen and tied for sixth overall in the conference with 11 points from four goals and three assists.
A total of 12 different Bluejays have scored at least one goal this spring as Creighton has scored 22 goals, which led the BIG EAST and ranks 20th nationally heading into the week.
Callum Watson and Charles Auguste ranked fourth in the BIG EAST with four assists. The Bluejays own 28 assists, which paced the conference during the regular-season and ranks 9th nationally.
Bluejay freshman Nathan Schnur has started nine matches in goal for the Bluejays. The Colorado native owns a 1.74 goals against average and has recorded 31 saves.
Head coach Johnny Torres is in his second year at the helm of the Bluejays after spending 12 years as an assistant coach.
Scouting #2 Georgetown (7-0-2)
The Hoyas enter the postseason unblemished.
Georgetown, the defending (2019) national champions, currently owns a 26-match unbeaten streak, dating back to a 1-0 two overtime loss at Louisville on Sept. 24, 2019, the only Hoya setback in the team's last 34 matches (27-1-5 since start of 2019 season).
The Hoyas have allowed just five goals this season and rank eighth nationally with a 0.520 goals against average.
Giannis Nikopolidis has allowed only two goals this season in 582 minutes of action and ranks fifth nationally with a 0.309 goals against average.
Offensively, Dante Polvara tied for the BIG EAST lead with 16 points and ranks 12th nationally with seven goals.
Derek Dodson and Jacob Montes tied for the team lead with three assists.
Montes and stand-out defender Rio Hope-Gund will each be unavailable for the postseason as both players played their final match in a Georgetown uniform on April 3 before embarking on professional careers.
Head coach Brian Wiese is in is 15th season at the helm of the Hoyas.
Series History Against Hoyas
Georgetown leads the all-time series against Creighton, 5-3-2.
The Bluejays and Hoyas played to a 1-1 draw in Washington, D.C. during the 2019 regular-season finale before Georgetown went on to win the national championship.
Creighton is 1-3-2 all-time at Georgetown, but winless (0-3-2) since joining league in 2013.
The Bluejays and Hoyas have met once previously in the BIG EAST Championship as Georgetown earned a 2-1 double overtime victory to claim the 2015 BIG EAST Tournament title in Washington, D.C.
2020 BIG EAST Men's Soccer Championship
Despite being played on April 17, 2021, the winner of Saturday's title match will be crowned the 2020 BIG EAST Men's Soccer tourney champion.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BIG EAST Conference announced that fall sports would not be conducted in 2020, and thus the 2020 Fall Season moved to the 2021 spring.
The winner of Thursday's Creighton/Georgetown match will face the winner of Marquette and Seton Hall on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Shaw Field.
Saturday's title match will be nationally televised on FS2.
Last Time Out
Creighton allowed a pair of goals in the final 16 minutes as Butler upset the Bluejays, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon during the regular-season finale for both teams.
Butler outshot Creighton 5-2 in the first half and led 1-0 after Jack Streberger finished off a scoring chance in the 41st minute.
Creighton didn't wait long after halftime to respond, as Diego Gutierrez fed Charles Auguste just outside the top of the box in the 47th minute for the tying score. It was Auguste's third tally of the season and came on a low roller just inside the right post that Butler keeper Gabriel Gjergji was slow to react on.
Less than 15 minutes later Creighton took a 2-1 lead when Omaha native Duncan McGuire found the back of the net in the 61st minute. The scoring threat started when Auguste played a ball towards Musa Qongo, who chased it down on the left side of the box and crossed it to McGuire. McGuire's header hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the goal for his fourth score of the season.
Butler tied the score in the 75th minute on Ethan King's first goal of the season, then scored the game-winner five minutes later in the 80th minute when Jack Haywood scored his first goal of the season on a free kick around a Bluejay wall and into the top right corner of the net. Haywood had also assisted on each of BU's first two goals.
CU had two chances seconds after Haywood's score. Dominic Briggs beat Gjergi, only to have his potential game-tying shot cleared away by Perrin Barnes. Twenty-four seconds later Owen O'Malley had a clean look following a short corner but Gjergji turned it away to preserve the Butler lead.
The game featured 24 fouls (18 on Creighton) and five yellow cards (four on CU).
Creighton In BIG EAST Tourney
The Bluejays have made the BIG EAST postseason all eight seasons the program has been in the league.
Creighton's best finish at the BIG EAST Championship is runner-up (twice). The Bluejays lost at Georgetown in the 2015 title match and at Butler in 2016.
Creighton is 3-6-1 in its previous seven BIG EAST postseason appearances and has not played more than one match in the league postseason tourney since 2016.
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McGuire Earns Back-To-Back Freshman of Week
Duncan McGuire earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors for the second consecutive week, the league announced on Monday afternoon. The Omaha native scored the Bluejays' second goal during Creighton's regular-season finale on Saturday at Butler.
McGuire led all BIG EAST freshmen and ranked tied for sixth among all players in the conference with 11 points from four goals and three assists during the regular season. He has tallied two points in each of Creighton's last four matches with three goals and two assists.
McGuire also earned the league's freshman of the week honor on April 5 after recording two assists against Kansas City (March 29) and the game-winning goal against DePaul (April 2) to help the Bluejays clinch a spot in the BIG EAST Championships.
Additionally, junior midfielder Charles Auguste claimed a spot on this week's conference honor roll after posting three points from a goal and an assist against Butler.
Recent Goal-Scoring Surge
After being shut out twice and scoring only five goals through the first five matches of the season (2-3-0), Creighton has found its offensive rhythm.
The Bluejays have scored 17 goals during their past six matches, including three or more during four matches and wins in four of those six matches.
Eleven different players have scored during the last six matches, while Duncan McGuire has found the back of the net four times and Diego Gutierrez has scored three times during that span.
Overall this season, 12 players have scored at least one goal and 12 players have at least one assist.
Scoring First Has Been Telling
Creighton is 6-0 this season when scoring first this season, but 0-5 when its opponent scores first.
Additionally, the Bluejays are 3-0 when leading at the half, 0-3 when trailing after 45 minutes and 3-2 when the score is tied at halftime.
Creighton's last come-from-behind victory came during the 2019 regular-season finale against Butler (Nov. 2).
The Bluejays' last victory when trailing at the half was on Sept. 24, 2019 against Tulsa as the Creighton trailed 1-0 at the half before winning 4-3 in overtime. That date also marks the last time Georgetown lost a match.
Bluejays All-Time vs. Top 25 Competition
Creighton is 80-60-17 all-time against United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA) Top-25 opponents, including 0-2-0 this season.
The Bluejays faced five ranked opponents during the 2019 campaign, including the first three matches of the season, as Creighton went 1-2-2 against the top-25.
Creighton is 8-17-1 during neutral site matches against Top-25 foes and Missouri State (2-0 loss on March 10) was the first ranked team Creighton faced on a neutral pitch since Nov. 14, 2014Â (No. 23 Providence at the BIG EAST Tournament).
The Bluejays are 29-27-12 all-time during road matches against Top 25 opponents.
