Game Notes
Live Stats
The UNO men's soccer team will face its second of three Summit League foes this season when it takes on Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne on Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT) in Fort Wayne, Ind. The Mavericks (1-1) are coming off their first defeat of the season last Sunday, a 4-0 loss to No. 24 UC Irvine. UNO was successful against its first Summit League opponent this season, knocking off UMKC last Friday, 2-1, in Kansas City. IPFW is 1-2 this season, coming off a 3-0 loss to Bowling Green on Wednesday.
Scouting the Competition: IPFW Mastodons
Head Coach: Mike Harper
2011 Record: 1-2-0 (0-0-0 Summit League)
Last Game: L, 0-3 at Bowling Green (8/31/11)
Website: gomastodons.com
IPFW boasts a star forward in Max Touloute. The senior Haitian scored eight goals and had one assist last season to earn All-Summit First-Team honors. Touloute had a hat trick and one assist in the Mastodons' season-opening 4-1 win over Milwaukee. He was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Week following his performance. IPFW then suffered a 1-0 loss to Bradley and a 3-0 loss at Bowling Green, the latter of which Touloute did not play in.
The Coaches
Jason Mims enters his first season as the head coach of the UNO men's soccer program in 2011. Mims comes to Omaha from Penn State, where he was the first assistant for the Nittany Lions in 2010. Prior to that, Mims spent 10 years as an assistant coach at Creighton, helping then-head coach Bob Warming, now the head coach at Penn State, create the Bluejays' program from the ground up. Mims helped lead Creighton to eight straight NCAA tournament appearances and six Missouri Valley Conference Championships. He was a two-time finalist for the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year award, the 2008 MVC Assistant Coach of the Year and the 2008 NSCAA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Mims recruited 10 All-Americans, eight conference players of the year, 21 all-region honorees and 50 all-conference picks at Creighton. He also coached club soccer for six years while in Omaha, winning the Nebraska State Cup each season and qualifying for the national tournament once. In 2007, he was an NSCAA National Youth Coach of the Year finalist and the region coach of the year. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Mims played soccer collegiately at Saint Louis University, where he was a two-time All-Conference USA selection and an NSCAA All-Midwest Region pick in 1997. Mims graduated from Saint Louis in 1999.
Mike Harper is in his third season as the head coach of his alma mater. Harper is 9-26-4 guiding the Mastodons. Harper graduated from IPFW in 1996 as the all-time leading scorer with 72 goals and 36 assists. He was an honorable mention All-American as a senior in 1995.
Last Time Out
The UNO men's soccer team fell 4-0 to No. 24 UC Irvine in the program's inaugural home match last Sunday at the UNO Soccer Field. In front of 1,647 fans and in great weather conditions, the Mavs gave up two goals in each half in falling to the Anteaters.
UC Irvine (2-0) got on the board first in the 20th minute after a Maverick handball in the box resulted in a penalty kick. Christian Hernandez buried the shot low in the left corner to put the Mavericks down 1-0 for the second straight game by way of a penalty kick.
The Mavs then produced some threatening attacks against the Anteaters, who were ranked in the top 10 for most of last season.
Tyler Dixon ripped a shot 18 minutes in toward the low right corner, but all-conference goalie Andrew Fontein made the diving save.
UNO nearly drew even again on its best scoring chance of the game in the 28th minute.
Logan Mendez got behind the defense and ran onto a loose ball, but his shot just inside the 18-yard box went just wide left of the post.
The Anteaters tacked on their second goal in the 31st minute when Miguel Ibarra dribbled down the left flank and played a line drive into the box. Enrique Cardenas caught on to the end of it and one-touched it into the back of the net from eight yards out to make it 2-0.
Vance Rookwood almost pulled a goal back for UNO in the 37th minute. He beat two players off the dribble, but his shot from 25 yards out and straight on went right of the post.
In the 62nd minute, Ibarra and Cardenas again hooked up for an Anteater goal. This time, Ibarra made a long run with the ball down the right side and centered it to Cardenas, who took a point-blank shot that Maverick goalie
Josh Christensen knocked away. But Cardenas was the first player to the rebound, and he headed it over Christensen to make it 3-0 UC Irvine.
The Anteaters added one more goal in the 72nd minute. Norby Rodriguez played a short cross in from just outside the box, and Lester Hayes III one-touched it past Christensen for a 4-0 advantage.
UC Irvine outshot UNO, 15-10, including 7-2 in shots on goal.
Next Up for the Mavs...
The Mavericks travel to California next weekend for a two-game road trip. UNO faces Santa Clara on Friday, Sept. 9 at 9 p.m. (CT). On Sunday, the Mavs travel five miles east to San Jose to play San Jose State at 1 p.m. (CT).
