Omaha Athletics

    The Omaha men's soccer team continues its five-game home stretch with a pair of games at the UNO Soccer Field this week. On Tuesday, the Mavericks welcome former Summit League foe and new WAC member Kansas City for a 4 p.m. match. Then on Saturday, the Mavs begin Summit League play by hosting the defending champions, Western Illinois, Saturday at 4 p.m.

    Omaha (1-5) is coming off a 3-0 loss to Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at the UNO Soccer Field. Chava Garcia leads the Mavs with five points on one goal and three assists this season. Vance Rookwood has a team-best two goals for four points. Craig Buettner has three points on one goal and one assist. UNO has outshot its opponents 87-66 this season with a 35-30 edge in shots on goal. Omaha also has 14 more corner kick attempts than its competition through six games.

    Kansas City, in its first year in the WAC, is 1-3-2 overall. The Kangaroos have been outscored by their opponents 9-4 entering Tuesday's game and are coming off a 3-1 loss at home to Incarnate Word on Saturday. Tato Chiaparro has two goals this season, while Derek Schrick and Jordan Rideout each have one. Kevin Corby and Chris McGaughey have seen nearly equal time in net. Corby is 0-0-2 with a 0.68 goals against average and .875 save percentage. McGaughey is 1-3 with a 2.00 goals against average and .741 save percentage.   

     Western Illinois, the defending Summit League tournament champion, is off to a 1-6 start. The Leathernecks were picked second in the league's preseason poll behind Denver. WIU has won three of the last four conference tournaments. The Leathernecks have been outscored 14-6 this season. Husref Jupic has three goals for WIU, while Diego Lopez has two. Yves Dietrich has a 1.99 goals against average and a .708 save percentage.

    UNO is 1-1 all-time against UMKC, but both games were played in Kansas City. Last season, UMKC beat the Mavs 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 20. The Mavs are 0-0-1 against Western Illinois. The teams met for the first time last year on Sept. 22 and played to a 1-1 draw in Macomb, Ill. It was the Mavs' first official Summit League game in program history.

    The Mavericks conclude their five-game homestand with a 4 p.m. game against Milwaukee on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

    The Mavericks fell to Cal State Fullerton, 3-0, Saturday afternoon at the UNO Soccer Field. The Titans scored early and late in the first half to take control, then added a penalty kick in the last 15 minutes.

    The Mavericks continue to play their home matches at the UNO Soccer Field while the renovation of Caniglia Field continues. The Mavs' new home will seat 3,466 fans and will feature a state-of-the-art soccer pitch. The exact date of the first game on the new surface is not yet known, but both the men's and women's soccer programs are anticipating playing on their new field this season.

    Sophomore forward Chava Garcia was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16 for his performance at Drake. The award was the first weekly honor for Garcia, though he was named to the Summit League All-Newcomer Team last season. Garcia had one goal and two assists for a career-high four-points in the 4-3 loss at Drake. Garcia picked up his first assist of the game on a corner kick service to Craig Buettner in the 14th minute to give the Mavs a 1-0 lead. With the Mavs trailing 2-1 in the second half, Garcia brought them back with a cross to Rookwood for a header goal in the 58th minute to tie the game. The Omaha South product then scored the go-ahead goal in the 73rd minute, rebounding his own shot and finishing it for his first goal of the season. Garcia had three shots on goal in the match.

    The Summit League recognized junior midfielder Vance Rookwood and senior goalkeeper Matt Grosey as the Summit League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, on Sept. 9 following the second week of the season. Rookwood's award was the first of his career, while Grosey picked up his second-career Summit League weekly award. In the Mavs' only game of the week, Rookwood scored the game-winning goal with 7:55 remaining to give Omaha a 1-0 win over Columbia. Grosey, the Mavericks' captain, posted his first shutout of the season in the victory, making him the only Summit League goalie to pitch a shutout in week two. Grosey made four saves - two of them on point-blank chances by Columbia in the final 15 minutes of the match to pick up his fourth career shutout.

    The Mavericks were picked to finish fourth in the Summit League Preseason Poll voted on by the league's seven head coaches. The Mavericks received 23 points to finish just one point behind IUPUI. League newcomer Denver was selected as the favorite after finishing 11-6-3 last season and bringing six starters and 18 letterwinners back. The Pioneers received 35 points and five first-place votes. Defending Summit League Tournament champion Western Illinois finished second and collected the other two first-place votes for a total of 31 points. The Leathernecks have won three of the last four Summit League postseason titles. Following IUPUI and Omaha in the preseason poll were Fort Wayne (15), Eastern Illinois (12) and Oral Roberts (7). The Mavs finished 5-10-1 overall last season and 3-3-1 in The Summit League to finish in a tie for fourth with Fort Wayne in the standings. Omaha has 10 players back who started at least 50 percent of the games last season. However, the Mavs have a talented group of newcomers that will bolster the lineup in 2013.

    The Mavericks have now completed two full years of their four-year transition to Division I and are therefore ineligible to compete in the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament until the 2015 season. The 2013-14 season will see UNO's teams going through a full Summit League schedule for the second time.

    The Mavs' first year of existence went about as one would expect, a final record of 1-11-1 and a lot of freshmen and sophomores gaining experience. But in year two, the Mavericks made huge strides, finishing with a final record of 5-10-1 and a Summit League record of 3-3-1. With no seniors on the roster and 16 of 21 players being freshmen and sophomores in 2012, the Mavs were a surprise in The Summit League, finishing in a tie for fourth place in the league standings after being picked last in the preseason poll. Against the top three teams in the league, the Mavs claimed a draw and two overtime losses. In its first year in The Summit League, UNO's high-powered offense finished second in the league with 26 goals on the season. In conference play, the Mavs were third with 11 goals scored and gave up just seven goals, the second fewest in the league. The Mavs carried that momentum into the spring season, defeating two-time defending College Cup participant Creighton in an exhibition match in April.