Men's Soccer Matches Up With Drake For Midweek Nonconference Match

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Tuesday, Oct. 10 | Drake at Creighton | Omaha, Neb. | 7:00 p.m. (CST)

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Creighton continues its three-match home stretch with a midweek match against Drake.

Follow The Match
Tuesday's match will be broadcast on Jays Video, which can be found at GoCreighton.com/Watch. Jon Schriner will handle the play-by-play, while Vince Odorisio 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 www.creighton.statbroadcast.com.

Bluejay fans can also stay updated through the Creighton men's soccer Twitter feed: Twitter.com/CreightonMSoc.

Scouting Creighton (6-4-1)
The Bluejays enter Tuesday's match following a 2-2 weather-shortended draw against St. John's on Friday.

Senior forward Ricky Lopez-Espin leads the Bluejays and is tied for fourth in the BIG EAST with six goals. He also owns two assists to pace the squad with 14 points.

Joel Rydstrand has four assists to lead the Bluejays.

Creighton ranks second in the BIG EAST and 23rd in the nation with 14.55 shots per match.

Defensively, the Bluejays own five shutouts, but have also allowed two or more goals five different times this season.

Last Time Out
The Creighton men's soccer team and St. John's tied 2-2 after playing into the 81st minute on a rainy Friday night at Morrison Stadium.

Friday's match entered a lightning delay during the 81st minute, and officials ended the contest after a one hour and 19 minute delay because of persistent lightning in the area and no end to the storms in the near future. The match reached the required 70-minute plateau to consider the contest complete.

Creighton opened the scoring with a goal from a penalty kick during the 31st minute.

Ricky Lopez-Espin scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season to give the Bluejays a 1-0 lead. Lopez-Espin's right-footed shot marked the Bluejays first PK attempt of the season.

St. John's opened the match with the first four shots before Creighton took 11 of the final 12 shots during the first 45 minutes, and ended the first half with an 11-5 edge.

The Red Storm evened the match less than a minute into the second half. Harry Cooksley put St. John's on the scoreboard with a penalty kick at the 45:53 mark to tie the contest at one.

During the 52nd minute, St. John's Mauricio Rivas received a red card, forcing the Red Storm to play a man down for the remainder of the match.

Despite playing with one less attacker St. John's took the lead during the 56th minute.

About 10 minutes after his first goal of the match, Cooksley gave the Red Storm a 2-1 lead.

Creighton tied the match at two during the 69th minute as Connor Ramlo tallied his first career goal with a header off a free kick. Joel Rydstrand sent a free kick from about 30 yards out into the middle of the box where Ramlo headed the ball into the back of the net from seven yards out.

Scouting Drake (3-8-1)
The Bulldogs head to Omaha after a 0-0 draw on Saturday against Loyola-Chicago.

Freshman Leroy Enzugus leads Drake with four goals.

Drake has scored 10 goals through 12 matches and has only two players with multiple goals.

Goalkeeper Caden McCullough owns a 1.69 goals against average while playing all 1,116 minutes this season for the Bulldogs.

Drake has also played Xavier and DePaul this season, going 0-2, while being outscored 6-1.

Head coach Gareth Smith is in his second season as head coach of the Bulldogs.

Series History vs. Bulldogs
Creighton leads the all-time series against Drake 27-3-8.

During the most previous meeting, the Bluejays defeated the Bulldogs 5-1 in Omaha on Nov 22, 2015 during the NCAA Tournament.

Creighton is 16-1-2 at home against Drake, including 6-1-2 at Morrison Stadium.

The two teams met annually from 1991-2012 as members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Nonconference Finale Success
Tuesday marks Creighton's final nonconference match of the season.

The Bluejays are 5-1 during the final nonconference regular-season match of the season under head coach Elmar Bolowich, including 3-0 against Drake (2013, 2014, 2015).

Creighton's match against Tulsa on Oct. 11, 2016 marked the last regular-season nonconference match of last season. The Bluejays had won five-staight nonconference regular-season finales before falling 2-1 to the Golden Hurricane.

The Bluejays are 8-2 during their last 10 regular-season nonconference finales.

RPI Rankings Update
The Bluejays were ranked 27th in the second RPI rankings that were released on Monday, Oct. 9.

Creighton is one of five BIG EAST teams listed in the top 60 (of 205 Division I programs).

12.   Butler
15.   Georgetown
27.   Creighton
52.   Xavier
54.   St. John's

The top 10 includes 1) Michigan State, 2) Wake Forest, 3) North Carolina, 4) Louisville, 5) Notre Dame, 6) Virginia, 7) Duke, 8) Maryland, 9) Western Michigan, 10) Indiana.

Fortress Morrison
Creighton is 127-23-18 overall at Morrison Stadium, including a 4-1-1 record at home so far this season.

Creighton has never lost consecutive matches at Morrison Stadium during the same season (since 2003).

The Bluejays' 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).

CU finished the 2016 season 9-2-2 at home, including 4-1-0 during BIG EAST regular-season play.

Ramlo Listed On BIG EAST Honor Roll
Sophomore midfielder Connor Ramlo earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after scoring his first career goal on Friday against St. John's.

Ramlo's goal during the 69th minute tied the match at 2-2 before the contest was called during the 81st minute after a lengthy delay because of lightning.

Iron Men Stauffer and Franke
Seniors Lucas Stauffer and Noah Franke rank first and second in Division I Men's Soccer for matches played among active players.

Stauffer has played in 79 matches, while Franke currently owns 78 appearances.

Stauffer also played in his 48 match at Morrison Stadium against Villanova (Sept. 23), which is third-most in program history. Ricardo Perez holds the record for matches played at Morrison Stadium with 52 appearances (2013-16).

The Creighton record for matches played in a career is 90, set by David Wagenfuhr (2000-2003).

The Bluejays have six matches remaining (including Tuesday) during the 2017 regular-season, including three scheduled to be played at Morrison Stadium.

Valdivia Forced Into Action
Sophomore Collin Valdivia appeared in his second career match as a Bluejay on Sept. 30 at Seton Hall, following the ejection of starting goalkeeper Michael Kluver because of a red card during the ninth minute.

Valdivia played the final 81:46 against Seton Hall and made four saves. He also allowed two goals, including a PK during his first shot faced after coming off the bench.

Valdivia made his first career start on Friday against St. John's while Kluver served a one-game suspension and not play against St. John's.

Brothers Valdivia
Both Dominic Valdivia and Collin Valdivia appeared during Creighton's match at Seton Hall (Sept. 30) and played on the field at the same time for 18 minutes, marking the first match since Dec. 13, 2002 (College Cup vs. Stanford) in which brothers were on the field at the same for the Bluejays when Joe Wieland and Matt Wieland both started.

Collin and Dominic are also the first set of brothers to appear in at least one match for Creighton during the same season since the Wieland brothers in 2002. Dominic, a true freshman, made his Creighton debut during the second half of the Bluejays' overtime victory against Tulsa on Sept. 19.

Collin made his Bluejay debut earlier this season against Cal (Sept. 3, 2017), and made his first start of his career on Friday against St. John's.

Vince Odorisio and Tony Odorisio both played at Creighton during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, but Vince and Tony were cousins.

Men's Soccer Matches Up With Drake For Midweek Nonconference Match

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Players Mentioned

Noah Franke

Michael Kluver

Ricky Lopez-Espin

Ricardo Perez

Connor Ramlo

Joel Rydstrand

Lucas Stauffer

Collin Valdivia

Dominic Valdivia