Weekly Release
Free Webcast (Santa Clara)
Live Stats (Santa Clara)
Live Stats (San Jose State)
The UNO men's soccer team heads to California this weekend for a pair of matches against big-time Division I names in Santa Clara and San Jose State. On Friday, the Mavericks will take on Santa Clara at 9 p.m. (CT). A free webcast will be hosted by Santa Clara and will be available at OMavs.com. Then the Mavs will travel five miles east on Sunday to square off against San Jose State at 1 p.m. (CT). The matches will be the final two before UNO returns home. The Mavs host Mercer on Friday, Sept. 23, at Werner Park at 7 p.m.
Scouting the Competition: Santa Clara Broncos
Head Coach: Cameron Rast (10th season)
2011 Record: 1-1-1 (West Coast Conference)
Last Game: L, 0-2 vs. New Mexico (9/4/11)
Website: santaclarabroncos.com
The Broncos opened the season with a 1-0 win over Stanford. They then tied UCLA, 2-2, but are coming off a 2-0 loss to New Mexico last Sunday. Santa Clara is led by Erik Hurtado, who has one goal and a team-high seven shots. Hurtado was an All-WCC first-team member last season. Senior defender Mykell Bates was also a first-team all-conference player last year for the Broncos and has one goal so far this season. Santa Clara won the West Coast Conference regular-season title last year and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Scouting the Competition: San Jose State Spartans
Head Coach: Gary St. Clair (22nd season)
2011 Record: 1-0-1 (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)
Last Game: vs. Cleveland State (9/9/11)
Website: sjsuspartans.com
The Spartans host Cleveland State on Friday night before facing the Mavericks on Sunday. San Jose State entered the weekend with a 1-0-1 record with a 4-1 season-opening win over Fresno Pacific and a 0-0 draw with Saint Mary's (Calif.). The Spartans are led by Dylan Murphy's two goals. Murphy earned all-conference honorable mention last season. Nick Cashmere and Craig Hertler each have three points this season.
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.
Cameron Rast is in his 10th season as the head coach at Santa Clara. Rast has a 104-54-35 record and guided the Broncos to the NCAA Tournament last season.
Gary St. Clair is in his 22nd season as the head coach of San Jose State. St. Clair has a 197-181-34 record at SJSU.
Last Time Out
The UNO men's soccer team fell 6-0 to the IPFW Mastodons on Sunday at Hefner Stadium in Fort Wayne, Ind.
With the loss, the Mavs dropped to 1-2 on the season. The Mastodons moved to 2-2.
The Mavs played the Mastodons even for most of the first half, but IPFW's insertion of all-conference standout forward Max Touloute proved to be the difference the Mastodons needed.
Coming off a one-game absence, Touloute came off the bench in the 26th minute and scored two goals and notched an assist to spark the IPFW attack.
The Mastodons broke the scoreless deadlock in the 41st minute when Touloute and Nate Shipman started a combination that led to Jason Mills beating goalkeeper
Josh Christensen inside the right post.
In the 44th minute, Touloute scored his first of the game and fourth of the season by picking the ball away from the Mavericks' defense and shooting inside the far post.
Colin Helmrich added the third goal in the 48th minute, then Touloute scored his second goal of the game in the 59th minute. Helmrich added another goal in the 67th minute, and Ross McWilliams capped the scoring on a header goal off a corner kick in the 80th minute.
IPFW finished with a 13-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Tyler Dixon led the Mavs with three shots, including two on frame. Christensen made seven saves in the loss.
Next Up for the Mavs...
The Mavericks get two weeks off before playing their second home game of the season. UNO hosts Mercer on Friday, Sept. 23, at Werner Park at 7 p.m.
