Men's Soccer Welcomes Villanova For BIG EAST Home Opener On Saturday

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Saturday, Sept. 23 | Villanova at Creighton | Omaha, Neb. | 7:00 p.m. (CST)

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Creighton hosts Villanova on Saturday night for the Bluejays first home BIG EAST match of the season.

Follow The Match
Saturday's match will be broadcast on BIG EAST Digital Network which can be found at FOXSportsGo.com or on the FOX Sports Go App. Jon Schriner will handle the play-by-play duties.

Live stats for the contest can be found at Creighton.Statbroadcast.com.

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

Scouting Creighton (4-3-0)
The Bluejays enter Saturday's match following a come-from-behind 2-1 overtime victory over Tulsa on Tuesday night.

Senior forward Ricky Lopez-Espin leads the Bluejays with four goals. He also owns two assists to pace the squad with 10 points.

Joel Rydstrand leads the team and ranks fifth in the BIG EAST with three assists. Luke Haakenson paces the squad with two game-winning goals, and three goals overall.

Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Michael Kluver owns two shutouts and one combined shutout through his first seven career starts as a Bluejay.

Creighton averages 15.1 shots per match and has attempted 6.9 corner kicks per contest.

Last Time Out
The Creighton men's soccer team rallied with goals during the final minute of regulation and closing moments of the first period of extra time to defeat Tulsa 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday night at Morrison Stadium.

During the 90th minute, Creighton's Joel Rydstrand sent a corner kick in from the bench side of the field towards the near post. After a Tulsa defender deflected the ball, goalkeeper Michael Kluver recovered the bouncing ball and fired a shot towards the goal before Ricky Lopez-Espin redirected the ball into the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1 with 16 seconds to play during regulation.

With less than a minute to play in the first overtime, Lopez-Espin stole the ball from a Tulsa attacker and sent a through ball across midfield to Luke Haakenson. Haakenson broke loose from a defender and picked up the ball about 40 yards from the goal line, beat the goalkeeper during a one-on-one opportunity, and scored from 17 yards out to give Creighton a 2-1 victory with 13.2 seconds showing on the clock.

Scouting Villanova (5-3-0)
The Wildcats enter Saturday's contest with a three-match winning streak.

Villanova opened the BIG EAST schedule last weekend with a 3-1 home win against Marquette.

Senior Lucas Hodges leads the Wildcats with four goals, while the team averages 2.12 goals per match.

Goalkeeper Will Steiner ranks first on the Division I Active Career Leaders list for saves with 290 in 65 matches played.

Villanova was picked fourth in the preseason coaches poll after finishing in a tie for third with Creighton at the end of the 2016 regular-season.

Series History vs. Wildcats
The series between Creighton and Villanova is tied at 2-2-0.

The Wildcats defeated the Bluejays 1-0 last season at Villanova.

Creighton is 1-1 against Villanova at Morrison Stadium. The Bluejays won 5-1 during the 2015 season, but fell 1-0 in overtime during the 2013 season, which marked the first meeting between the two programs.

Creighton During BIG EAST Home-Openers
The Bluejays are 4-0 during the first home match of the conference schedule.

Creighton has outscored its oppenents 9-3 during those matches.

The Jays' last conference home-opener loss came during the 2009 season against Missouri State (0-1) when Creighton was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Goalkeeper Assists
Creighton goalkeeper Michael Kluver became the third goalie since Creighton reinstated its program in 1990 to record an assist when he earned an assist on the tying goal during Tuesday's match against Tulsa.

Kluver joins Matt Allen (2005) and Kevin Doyle (1992) as the only Bluejay goalkeepers to record assists. Doyle recorded two assists for the Bluejays during the 1992 season.

Bolowich Nearing 100th Win At Creighton
Head coach Elmar Bolowich's next victory will be his 100th at Creighton.

Bolowich took over sole possession of second place on Creighton's all-time wins list with a 3-0 victory over Cal on Sept. 3, and is currently 99-32-12 as head man of the Bluejays since taking over before the 2011 season.

Bolowich passed Bret Simon, who coached at Creighton from 1995-2000 and was inducted into the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame on April 23, 2017.

Bolowich now trails only Bob Warming on Creighton's all-time wins list.

Coach   W-L-T   Years with program
Bob Warming   190-61-34   1990-94, 2001-09
Elmar Bolowich    99-32-12   2011-Present
Bret Simon   96-26-8   1995-2000

Overtime Victory
The Bluejays are 2-1 this season during overtime matches following their 1-0 win against Tulsa on Tuesday night.

Creighton's 1-0 victory over Grand Canyon (Aug. 27) in double overtime marked the Bluejays' first win during a match that went extra time since Sept. 21, 2013 against No. 7 St. John's (1-0, 2OT).

Creighton's previous 13 overtime matches prior to Aug. 27 had resulted in either a draw or loss (eight draws, five losses).

The Bluejays are 10-6-12 during matches that needed extra time under the direction of Elmar Bolowich (since start of 2011).

Creighton recorded three wins in matches that required extra time during the 2012 season, the most during a single year during the Bolowich era.

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 75 matches, while Franke currently owns 74 appearances.

Stauffer will also be playing in his 47th match at Morrison Stadium on Saturday, which is tied for 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 10 matches remaining (including Saturday) during the 2017 regular-season, including five scheduled to be played at Morrison Stadium.

Fortress Morrison
Creighton is 126-23-17 overall at Morrison Stadium, including a 3-1-0 record at home so far this season.

The Bluejays have never lost consecutive matches at Morrison Stadium during the same season (since 2003).

Creighton's 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.

Brothers Valdivia
Freshman Dominic Valdivia made his Creighton debut during the second half of the Bluejays' overtime victory against Tulsa on Tuesday.

Dominic is the brother of sophomore goalkeeper Collin Valdivia, who made his Bluejay debut earlier this season against Cal (Sept. 3, 2017).

Dominic and Collin are the first set of brothers to appear in at least one match for Creighton during the same season since Joe Wieland and Matt Wieland in 2002.

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

Two-Goal Match
Ricky Lopez-Espin scored a pair of goals against Butler during the BIG EAST regular-season opener (Sept. 16) for the Bluejays' first multi-goal match of 2017.

Creighton had a total of five individuals record at least two goals in a match during the 2016
season (Joel Rydstrand, Riggs Lennon, Ricardo Perez, Lopez-Espin, Myles Englis).

Unusual Lost Lead
Creighton's loss against Butler (Sept. 16) marked only its second under head coach Elmar Bolowich when leading at the half. The Bluejays led 1-0 at the half before falling 3-2 in overtime.

The Bluejays are 59-2-2 under Bolowich when leading at halftime.

The Bluejays' loss during the 2016 regular season against Tulsa (Oct. 11, 2016) was its first when leading at the half the during coach Elmar Bolowich's tenure as the Bluejay head man. Creighton had been 54-0-3 in its previous 57 matches with a halftime lead, with its last loss coming Nov. 12, 2010 at Bradley.

Creighton also dropped just its eighth match under Bolowich when scoring first on Saturday afternoon.

The Jays are 84-8-3 under Bolowich when scoring first.

By contrast, CU is 7-15-2 when trailing at the half and 15-24-4 when the opposition scores first.

Men's Soccer Welcomes Villanova For BIG EAST Home Opener On Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Myles Englis

Noah Franke

Luke Haakenson

Michael Kluver

Riggs Lennon

Ricky Lopez-Espin

Ricardo Perez

Joel Rydstrand

Lucas Stauffer

Collin Valdivia

Dominic Valdivia