'Roos Head to No. 24 Creighton for Mid-Week Test
10/16/2012 10:39:00 AM | Men's Soccer
at No. 24 Creighton Blue Jays (9-3-2)
Tuesday, October 16 - 7:00 pm
Omaha, Neb. * Morrison Stadium
Live Stats: GoCreighton.com
The Game:
The 'Roos face No. 24 Creighton in a mid-week road non-conference contest on Tuesday night. Kansas City comes in after dropping its last two, while the Blue Jays are on a four-game win streak.
The Coaches
In his 15th season at UMKC, Rick Benben is the winningest coach in school history, posting a 110-133-29 record. Under his guidance, UMKC has captured four Summit League regular season titles and has made three appearances in the NCAA College Cup with the most recent appearance coming in 2008. Benben, the fourth head coach in the Division I era, was inducted into the UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame this past year.
Elmar Bolowich is in his second season as the head coach at Creighton (30-5-3) after 22 years at North Carolina (280-144-40). He led Creighton to the Final Four last season. He was the winningest head coach in UNC history, and won the 2001 NCAA Championship. He led the Tar Heels to 15 NCAA Tournament appearances, including Final Fours in each of his last three seasons there.
The Series
It will be the 13th meeting between the two schools with a 9-2-2 series record in favor of the Bleujays. Last season the 'Roos fell 5-0 at home. The 'Roos last won in 2008 by a 1-0 score in Omaha.
Scouting the Competition
The No. 24 Creighton men's soccer team is 9-3-2 overall and won a fourth straight match for the first time this season as the Jays downed Central Arkansas 3-0 for their 10th consecutive shutout of a Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) opponent Saturday Oct. 13.
With the 3-0 win, Creighton extended its shutout streak to 10 consecutive games against MVC foes. The last score allowed to a league opponent by CU came in the conference opener last season (Oct. 12) versus Missouri State at 22:54. It's been nearly 1,093 minutes since Creighton allowed a goal to an MVC team.
Jose Gomez leads the Jays' offense with 13 points on the year with a trio of goals and a team-high seven assists. He earned TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Week honors for his offensive output last week.
CU freshman goalkeeper Jeff Gal earned his third shutout of the season by making six saves against the Bears and improved to 5-0 in 2012.