Creighton Men's Soccer - Creighton University Bluejays

Creighton Soccer Facts• CU is the ONLY school in the NCAA to haveat least one player selected in each of the 13MLS drafts since 1996.• CU joins Indiana, UCLA and Virginia as theonly four teams to have played in each of thelast 17 NCAA tournaments.• CU has ranked in the top 10 in NCAA attendancein each of the last five years.• CU owns an MVC record nine regular-seasonconference championships, including thisseason’s.• CU owns an MVC record 11 conference tournamentchampionships, including this year.• Forty-one former Bluejays have played professionallysince 1993.• Creighton has produced 21 MLS draft picks.Fantastic Fanatics: For the third time in schoolhistory, more than 4,000 fans turned out for aBluejay regular-season home match, as 4,071fans showed up for Creighton's season-opener.The Jays followed with over 3,000 fans for theirsecond game to give the Bluejays two of thelargest 10 crowds in all of college soccerthrough two weekends of play. The 4,071 fansranks as the third-largest regular-season homecrowd and the fifth-largest crowd in CU homehistory (including exhibitions).Top Five Creighton Home Crowds1 – 5,812 vs. UCLA, Sept. 8, 20072 – 5,743 vs. Stanford (Exh.), Aug. 26, 20053 – 4,407 vs. Saint Louis, Aug. 31, 19974 – 4,345 vs. Virginia (Exh.), Aug. 28, 19935 – 4,071 vs. Gonzaga, Aug. 29, 2008Top Five Morrison Stadium Crowds1 – 5,812 vs. UCLA, Sept. 8, 20072 – 5,743 vs. Stanford (Exh.), Aug. 26, 20053 – 4,071 vs. Gonzaga, Aug. 29, 20083 – 4,029 vs. UMKC (Exh.), Aug. 27, 20044 – 4,023 vs. Tulsa, Sept. 22, 2007First Things First: Freshman Kris Clark andsophomore Andrew Duran teamed up with JeffThayer on the final goal of the match againstGonzaga (Aug. 29). Duran and Clark both werecredited with their first career assists onThayer’s second goal of the match. SophomoreTucker Sindlinger recorded his first game-winninggoal in the win as well.National Player of the Year Candidates: Forthe second straight season, two Bluejays havebeen placed on the Missouri Athletic ClubHermann Trophy Watch List, a preseason list forthe award annually given to the top soccer playerin Division I. Junior Byron Dacy is on thepreseason watch list for the third straight year,even after playing just two matches and redshirtinglast year because of a torn ACL. SeniorAndrei Gotsmanov, who led the team with sixgoals and 17 points last year, joins Dacy on thelist. Last year, Matt Allen was nominated alongwith Dacy to begin the season. Gotsmanov andDacy are now on the long list of National Playerof the Year candidates from Creighton, includingthe 1997 winner and current assistant coach,Johnny Torres.CU National Player of the Year CandidatesYear Player2008 Byron Dacy & Andrei Gotsmanov2007 Byron Dacy & Matt Allen2006 Byron Dacy2004 Julian Nash2003 David Wagenfuhr2002 Mike Tranchilla2001 Mike Tranchilla1997 Johnny Torres (Won)1996 Ross Paule1993 Keith DeFini & Brian KamlerKeeping Keepers: There is no doubt experiencein goal helps, but there is proof inCreighton’s past that demonstrates that experienceisn’t necessary for success. This seasonthe Bluejays return zero career minutes in goal,with three redshirt freshmen goalkeepers on theroster. The Jays have never previously returnedzero minutes in net. In fact, both previous timesCU returned 202 career minutes in goal orfewer, it reached the College Cup.The fewest career goalkeeping minutes theJays have returned prior to this season cameduring the 2000 campaign. Mike Gabb hadplayed 179 career minutes before the 2000 season,a year the Bluejays would lead the NCAAwith 22 wins and appear in the NCAA championshipmatch. The second-fewest minutes theJays have returned came in 1996, when JonEpperson entered the year with 202 career minutes.He helped lead the Bluejays to their firstCollege Cup Final Four that season.Senior Citizens: Creighton has three seniors –Andrei Gotsmanov, Seth Sinovic, Ti mWalters – listed on its roster this season, thefewest since the 1998 team also had just threeseniors on the squad - Marc Madeley, RichardMulrooney and Patrick Parker. Gotsmanov andSinovic demonstrated their senior leadershipand ability by combining on the first CU goal ofthe season this year.Nine Newcomers: CU’s incoming class of nineplayers – six true freshmen and three transfers– was ranked as the 16th-best recruiting class inthe country according to College Soccer News.The Jays have 12 freshmen on their roster, fiveof whom redshirted with the Bluejays last year.Junior Akin A k i n r i n a d e (Central Florida),sophomore Kyle Deremer (St. Mary’s) andfreshman Tim Krueger (Hastings) have transferredinto the program. Deremer and Kruegerwere teammates on Millard North’s undefeatedstate championship team in 2007. Akinrinade,Krueger, along with freshmen Greg Jordan andEthan Finlay all enrolled and trained atCreighton this spring.Dairy State Products: A pair of freshmen fromWisconsin have been tabbed among “100Freshmen to Keep an Eye On” according toCollege Soccer News. Ethan Finlay and StewBrown, club teammates for FC Milwaukee, bothearned the notice. Finlay was recognized byRise Magazine as a top-30 national recruit andwas an NSCAA Youth All-American, whileBrown was an NSCAA High School A l l -American and named the most outstandingplayer at the US Youth Soccer NationalChampionships in 2007.Preseason Summary: Creighton finished 2-1-0in the exhibition season, allowing just one goalin 270 minutes of action. The Jays crushed theNebraska Club Team, 5-0, in their only homeexhibition match on Aug. 15. CU then was narrowlyedged by the Kansas City Wizards ofMLS, 1-0, on Aug. 18. They bounced back toblank ninth-ranked and 2007 NCAA runner-up,Ohio State, 3-0, in Columbus last Sunday.Junior Jeff Thayer scored two goals and hadtwo assists to lead the Bluejay attack in the preseason.Time in net was split between redshirtfreshmen Brian Holt and Nick Goldreich.