Tailgating Procedures
Parking Procedures
Weekly Release
The UNO Maverick men's soccer team returns home on Friday to play the Mercer Bears at 7 p.m., in the second of three home games this season. But unlike the first game, UNO will call Werner Park its home this time, as the Mavs travel down the road to play under the lights in a 6,434-seat stadium with more than 2,500 additional spots available on berms. The five-month-old Werner Park, which will be hosting its first-ever soccer game, is home to the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Kansas City Royals' Triple-A affiliate baseball team.
In an effort to reach out to the entire Omaha community, the UNO soccer team will play at the ballpark located in Sarpy County, near the intersection of 126th Street and Highway 370 in Papillion. The soccer field will be set up from left field to right field, so the closest available seats to the field will be in the outfield berms. Lawn chairs and outside food and beverages are
not allowed in the stadium.Tailgating
is allowed in the Werner Park lots. See the link above for specific details.
All seating for Friday's event will be general admission. Tickets are on sale through the Omaha Storm Chasers' ticket office. Prices are $7 for adults and $5 for kids age 3-10. Children 2 and under are free. UNO students can get in for free with their MavCard. To purchase tickets, visit OmahaStormChasers.com or call (402) 738-5100.
Parking is $2 for the lots in front of the stadium. Free parking is available in lots behind the stadium. See the link above for parking instructions.
After the game, the Maverick players and coaches will sign autographs and take pictures with youth players and fans.
Blast from the Past
UNO Head Coach
Jason Mims and Mercer Head Coach Brad Ruzzo are used to seeing each other standing on the other side of the midfield line as assistant coaches, but the two friends will resume those positions against each other as head coaches for the first time on Friday. Mims spent nine years as an assistant coach at Creighton from 2001-2009, and Ruzzo was an associate head coach at Creighton's MVC rival Bradley from 2000-07.
While Mims is just beginning his tenure at Nebraska Omaha, Ruzzo has been instrumental in turning around the Mercer program. In his first season in 2008, Ruzzo and the Bears finished 2-11-5 overall and 1-5-3 in the Atlantic Sun. The following year, Mercer improved to 7-11-2 overall and 4-5-0 in conference play. Then last season, the Bears achieved their first 10-win season since 2004 when they went 10-6-1 and finished 5-4-0 in the A-Sun, good for third place.
“Obviously this game came to fruition because Jason and I have known each other for a long, long time from our days as assistants at Creighton and Bradley,” Ruzzo said. “I also understand when you start a program from scratch, and in the short amount of time he had to do it, I think it's always nice to help out those programs. Us coming up there is just a way of helping him out and helping get that name out about UNO soccer in the community.”
Mercer will be the second Division I team to visit the Mavericks in Omaha in their inaugural season. The Bears returned eight starters from last year's team.
“Brad and I go way back, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he's doing at Mercer right now,” Mims said. “You can tell that they are a program on the rise. Going back to the last decade when we were assistant coaches, we had great battles between Creighton and Bradley every year. It's my hope that the event on Friday is enjoyable for both teams and all of our wonderful fans.”
Mavs May Break Attendance Mark
At the inaugural UNO men's soccer home game on Aug. 28 against No. 24 UC Irvine, an impressive 1,647 fans packed the UNO Soccer Field to witness the first home game in program history. On Friday, the Mavericks will play at a much larger facility and hope that the venue helps set a new attendance record in the program's second game. The attendance record for any Summit League school's home game is 2,117, back when Oakland hosted Michigan on Sept. 30, 2009. Although UNO's attendance numbers don't officially go on record with the Summit League this season as a Division I transitional school, the Mavericks would still claim bragging rights over their soon-to-be conference partners. The top attendance average for a Summit League school so far this season is 590 for Western Illinois.
Scouting the Competition: Mercer Bears
Head Coach: Brad Ruzzo (4th season)
2011 Record: 3-3-1
Last Game: W, 2-0 (vs. Georgia Southern, 9/18)
Website: www.mercerbears.com
The Bears are 3-3-1 and have won two straight games. Last Sunday, Mercer defeated Georgia Southern, 2-0, behind goals from Ehjayson Henry and Matt Brazer. Mercer went 10-6-1 last season for the school's first 10-win season since 2004. Henry leads the Bears in scoring with three goals on the season. Will Betts also has six points on two goals and two assists.
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 nine 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.
Brad Ruzzo is in his fourth season as the head coach at Mercer. Ruzzo has a 22-29-9 all-time record. Last season, he led Mercer to its first 10-win season since 2004. Ruzzo graduated from Cincinnati in 1999.
Next Up for the Mavs...
The Mavericks are back on the road on Sunday, Oct. 2, at Oral Roberts at 2 p.m.
