Weekly Release
Omaha vs. Mercer
Friday, Aug. 31 • 4:30 p.m.
Peoria, Ill. - Shea Stadium
Live Stats
Live Video (purchase necessary)
Omaha at Bradley
Sunday, Sept. 2 • 2:30 p.m.
Peoria, Ill. - Shea Stadium
Live Stats
Live Video (Purchase necessary)
The UNO men's soccer team hits the road this weekend for a pair of games at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic in Peoria, Ill., hosted by Bradley. The Mavericks open play on Friday against Mercer at 4:30 p.m. On Sunday, the Mavs conclude play with a 2:30 p.m. match against Bradley. UNO (1-0) is coming off a season-opening 4-0 win over Bellevue at the UNO Soccer Field on Sunday, the program's first-ever home win. Live stats and a live stream (purchase necessary) for both matches will be available at OMavs.com.
Series History
Mercer leads the all-time series against UNO, 1-0. The Bears defeated the Mavericks last year at Werner Park, 2-0, on Sept. 23. UNO and Bradley will be meeting for the first time.
Rookwood Named Player of the Week
Sophomore midfielder
Vance Rookwood was named the College Sports Madness Summit League Player of the Week for his play during the week of Aug. 20-26. Rookwood had a header goal and one assist on Aug. 26 to lead the Mavericks to a season-opening 4-0 win over Bellevue at the UNO Soccer Field. Rookwood led the Mavs with six shots in the game. Counting the three exhibition games, Rookwood has scored in three of the first four matches UNO has played so far this season.
A Shutout to Remember
In a 4-0 win against Bellevue last Sunday, UNO earned its first shutout in school history, and did so in grand fashion, limiting Bellevue to zero shots on goal for the game. Goalkeeper
Matt Grosey picked crosses out of the air, and the Mav starting back line of
Jordan Gealy,
Felipe da Silva,
Nick Miller and
Emir Alihodzic did their part to keep the Bruins out of threatening positions.
Next Up for the Mavs
The Mavs return home to host Seattle on Sunday, Sept. 9 at the UNO Soccer Field at 5 p.m.
Last Time Out
The UNO men's soccer team paid the price to earn its first home win in program history on Sunday, routing Bellevue 4-0 in a physical season opener in front of 442 fans at the UNO Soccer Field. Chava Garcia,
Vance Rookwood,
Emir Alihodzic and
Craig Buettner all scored for the Mavericks (1-0), who went 0-3 in three home games last year. Rookwood, Alihodzic,
Logan Mendez,
Jordan Gealy and
Giovanni Giattino all recorded assists.
Matt Grosey and the Maverick back line of Gealy,
Felipe da Silva,
Nick Miller and Alihodzic helped pitch the first shutout in school history, allowing Bellevue no shots on goal. Bellevue dropped to 0-2 on the season in a game that featured two red cards and five yellow cards.
Scouting Mercer
Mercer enters with an 0-2 record after 2-1 losses at UAB and at North Carolina State (in overtime). Mercer finished 9-8-3 last season and returns nine starters from that team, which beat UNO at Werner Park in Omaha on Sept. 23, 2-0. Richie Edmondson and Will Betts each have a goal for the Bears so far this season. Brad Ruzzo is in his fifth year as the head coach at Mercer with a record of 28-38-11. The Bears conclude play at the tournament on Sunday against Hartwick.
Scouting Bradley
The Braves enter the weekend with a 1-1 record and are receiving votes to be ranked. Then-No. 25 Bradley was upset by Western Michigan in overtime last Sunday, 2-1. Jochen Graf has scored all three goals for Bradley this season. Wojciech Wojcik has three assists. The Braves reached the NCAA Tournament Second Round last year. Jim DeRose is in his 17th year as the head coach at Bradley with a 182-124-33 record. Bradley hosts Hartwick on Friday.
Day of Firsts
UNO's season-opening 4-0 win over Bellevue on Aug. 26 saw a lot of firsts for the second-year Maverick program. It was the first home victory in school history. It was the first regular-season shutout in school history. It was the first time the Mavs have scored more than two goals in a regular-season game. It also marked the first-career goals for freshmen Chava Garcia and
Emir Alihodzic.
Shooting Range
The Mavs' 21 shots against Bellevue were a school record, topping last year's high of 16 at Stetson on Nov. 5. UNO placed six shots on goal, with four finding the back of the net.
Vance Rookwood led UNO with six shots in the opener. Chava Garcia had five, and
Craig Buettner had four.
Welcome to The Summit League
The 2012 season marks UNO's first with a full Summit League schedule. UNO will play all seven Summit League foes once, starting with a Sept. 22 game at defending Summit League champion Western Illinois. Although the Mavericks will appear in the Summit League standings, UNO cannot qualify for the Summit League Championship or the NCAA Tournament until 2015-16.
Preseason Honors
Midfielder
Vance Rookwood and forward
Craig Buettner were named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Summit League Second Team. Rookwood led UNO last year with three points on one goal and one assist. Buettner had one goal after joining the team midway through the season after an open tryout.
Experienced But Young
Eight starters return for the Mavericks, including redshirt freshman
Logan Mendez, who started the first three games and missed the rest of the season due to injury. Mendez scored the first goal in school history in a 2-1 win over UMKC and despite missing the final 10 games, still finished third on the team with five shots on goal. Although the number of returning starters is high, the Mavs' nine returning players consist of one redshirt freshman, five sophomores and three juniors.
A Whole New Batch
While nine Mavericks return from last year's inaugural team, 13 fresh faces are new to the program this fall. Five newcomers got a head start and enrolled at UNO for the 2012 spring semester and trained with the Mavs throughout the spring - junior goalkeeper
Matt Grosey, junior forward
Thomas Torres, sophomore defender
Nick Miller, sophomore defender
Felipe da Silva and freshman midfielder
Devin Diego. The Mavs added two Division I transfers as well. Creighton Prep alum Jake Linden will be a freshman for the Mavs after redshirting one year at Xavier.
Houston Hoffman will be a junior after playing two years at Northern Illinois. The rest of the Mavs' incoming class comprises six true freshmen -
Emir Alihodzic, Chava Garcia,
Giovanni Giattino,
Danny Gustafson,
Lucas Hake and
Jesus Perez.
Lessons Learned
After a 1-11-1 record in their inaugural season as a program, the Mavericks will use the adversity they faced last year to continue to build the program from the ground up. The Mavs started to click toward the end of the 2011 season with three goals in the final three games after scoring three times through the first 10 games. UNO picked up a 1-1 draw at Missouri Valley Conference foe SIU Edwardsville in late October, its only result of the season after the 2-1 season-opening win at UMKC.
Mavs Picked Eighth in Summit League Preseason Poll
UNO was picked to finish eighth in The Summit League Preseason Poll, which was determined by a vote of the league's eight head coaches. Defending champion Western Illinois is the favorite to repeat as champions. The Fighting Leathernecks, who claimed both the 2011 regular season and postseason championships, received five first-place votes and totaled 46 points. Kansas City had one first-place vote and finished second with 39 points to edge out Oakland, who received the remaining two first-place votes and had 38 points. Oral Roberts, IUPUI, Fort Wayne and Eastern Illinois finished fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. League newcomer Omaha rounded out the poll. The top four teams in the regular-season standings, except for UNO, will compete for The Summit League Men's Soccer Championship in Macomb, Ill., Nov. 9 & 11.
