Omaha Athletics

This Weekend
Omaha opens Summit League by welcoming IUPUI to Caniglia Field on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:00 p.m.  Noah Sullinger and Owen Godberson will have the call on the MavRadio broadcast, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available at OMavs.com.

Maverick Quick Kicks
• Omaha was picked to finish second in the 2016 Summit League Preseason Poll.
• The Mavericks welcome 11 new players into the fold in 2016 including seven freshmen, two transfers and two redshirt players.
• Omaha returns 13 letterwinners, including eight starters from last season.
• UNO enters the match with an overall record of 3-3-3 after edging Air Force 1-0 last weekend.
• Fazlo Alihodzic has a team-best 10 points on four goals and two assists.
• Emmanuel Hamzat is second on the team with two goals.
• Elvir Ibisevic has three assists to lead the team.
• Mark Moulton tied Vance Rookwood's program-record in career points with 45.
• Jacob Weiler, Alihodzic and Ghitis have won Summit League Player of the Week accolades this season.
• Jason Mims is in his sixth season as head coach.

Scouting the Jaguars
IUPUI enters Saturday's contest on a seven-game losing streak with an overall record of 0-7. The Jaguars suffered a 2-0 defeat in their Summit League opener against Western Illinois last weekend.

Uriel Macias and Jordan Parron lead IUPUI with two points on one goal each. Pedro Valladao has one assist to lead the team.  Josh Gray and James Mitchison have both seen time in the goal this season. Gray is 0-6 with a 3.00 goal-against average and a .647 save percentage. Mitchison is 0-1 with a 6.00 goals-against average and a .400 save percentage.

Head coach Brian Barnett is in his first season leading the Jaguar program.

Series History
Saturday's meeting will be the fifth meeting between Omaha and IUPUI. Omaha leads the all-time series 2-1-1. In their last meeting, the two teams tied 1-1 (2OT) on Sept. 26, 2015.

Last Time Out: Hamzat's Late Goal Lifts Omaha Over Air Force
Emmanuel Hamzat broke a scoreless tie in the 87th minute with his second goal of the season to give the Omaha men's soccer team a 1-0 victory over Air Force on Friday at Caniglia Field.

With under four minutes remaining in play, Jacob Weiler lofted a pass into the offensive third to a waiting Elvir Ibisevic.  Ibisevic flicked a header to Hamzat who was able to control the pass.  Hamzat outmuscled his defender outside the 18-yard box and poked his shot past Air Force goalkeeper, John Wendt.

Out of the gate, Air Force was the more aggressive team, forcing Joseph Ghitis to make a save in the seventh minute of play.  Maverick midfielder Lalo Gamboa cleared Ryan Ward's shot off the line to keep the game scoreless.  The defense stood firm in the 40th minute blocking another Falcon shot heading toward the goal.

The two sides entered the locker room at half tied 0-0 with Air Force holding a 6-4 advantage in shots.

Omaha's first true scoring opportunity came 15 minutes into the second half.  Fazlo Alihodzic found an opening in the Falcon's defense and put a shot on goal that was saved by Wendt.  Less than five minutes later, Gamboa hit a right-footed shot that glanced off the right post.

Before Hamzat was able to notch the game-winner, Omaha came close to getting on the board in the 80th minute.  Mark Moulton beat his defender on the far side as he worked his way into the 18-yard box, but Wendt was able to position himself to smother the shot and keep the game scoreless.

Ghitis got the win in goal for Omaha by playing the full 90 minutes and recording four saves.  Ibisevic had six shots, while Alihodzic and Hamzat added two to help Omaha outshoot Air Force, 15-10 in the game.

Weiler Earns Player of the Week Honors
Jacob Weiler was named Summit League Defensive Player of the week for his performance, Sept. 19-25.

Weiler earned his first career Defensive Player of the Week award and was part of an Omaha backline that registered a 1-0 shutout over a 5-2 Air Force squad to snap its four-match winning streak.  He tallied his first career point with an assist on the game-winning goal.

RPI Power
In the first edition of the 2016 Men's Soccer PRI, Omaha finds itself slated in the No. 49 position, as announced by the NCAA.  The Mavericks have already played Cal (17th), Creighton (26th), UConn (47th), Stanford (53rd) and Air Force (79th).  Still on the UNO schedule is a meeting with Denver (31st).

On the Mark Nationally
Joseph Ghitis ranks among the top 50 in two categories: 21st in goalie minutes played (853:24) and 46th in total saves (34).  Fazlo Alihodzic ranks among the top 75 in two categories: 63rd in goals scored (four) and 68th in total points (10).  Elvir Ibisevic is 71st in assists (three).

League Leaders
As a team, Omaha is second in the Summit League with 49 corner kicks and third in total shutouts.

Fazlo Alihodzic is fourth in the league in points (10) and is tied for fifth in goals scored (four).  Joseph Ghitis leads the league with 34 saves.  Ghitis is second in shutouts (two) and ranks in the top five in save percentage (.723) and goals-against average (1.37).

On the Big Stage
This season Omaha has played in two of the top five attended games in NCAA Division I Men's Soccer.  UNO played in front of 5,100 fans at UConn on Aug. 28 and 4,766 people at Creighton on Sept. 5.

Omaha leads the Summit League in total attendance and average attendance.  This season over 2,600 people have attended games at Caniglia Field, and the Mavericks average 655 fans per game.

Record Book Watch
Mark Moulton finds himself among the UNO elite when comparing career stats. He currently sits second on the all-time goal-scoring chart with 13, behind Vance Rookwood, the school's all-time leader, who has 19.  Moulton tied Rookwood for the all-time lead in career points with 45 points in 60 appearances.  Moulton already owns the school career mark of 19 career assists and 119 shots.

Joseph Ghitis is also moving up some impressive charts this season.  He is in the top three in four all-time categories, including first for career goals-against average (1.11), save percentage (.740) and career wins (12). He is tied for first all-time in shutouts (seven) and third for saves (91).

Home Sweet Home
Since opening Caniglia Field in 2013, the Mavericks have dominated the opposition, going a combined 18-4-3 and outscoring opponents 54-25.  The Mavs have a record of 6-2 in Summit League action (2013-16) at Caniglia Field.  Since the inception of the program, UNO has a 24-12-5 home mark and has outscored opponents 75-50.

Young Bulls
So far this season, six of Omaha's eight freshmen have seen playing time.  Seth Rinderknecht has started all nine games this season and scored against Drake.  Rinderknecht has played the second most number of minutes of any field player with 814.
Elvir Ibisevic has a goal and leads the team with three assists this season while starting eight of nine games.  Ibisevic has logged 709 minutes.

Fred Frimpong has made one start and appeared in eight games, while Joel Kazhila made eight appearances with five starts.  Ethan Bowman and Ugo Tritz each have one game under their belt.

Mavericks Remain in Regional Poll
The Omaha men's soccer team moved up three spots in the latest NCAA West Region Poll released Tuesday.  The Mavericks went 1-0 last week with a 1-0 victory over Air Force.

Denver sits atop the regional poll and is ranked eighth nationally.  Oral Roberts dropped to eighth in the rankings after topping Eastern Illinois.

Alihodzic, Ghitis Earn Player of the Week Honors
Senior midfielder Fazlo Alihodzic was named Summit League Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week while Maverick teammate and senior goalkeeper Joseph Ghitis was named league Defensive Player of the Week for their performances Aug. 29 - Sept. 5.

Alihodzic earned his second career Offensive Player of the Week award after totaling six points on two goals and two assists during the week.  He factored into all three Omaha scores with a goal and a pair of assists in a 3-0 win over Drake.  The senior midfielder also accounted for the Mavericks' lone goal in a 1-1 tie against No. 8 Creighton.

Ghitis earned his second career Defensive Player of the Week award by posting a 0.45 goals-against average and a .875 save percentage while recording a 1-0-1 record during the week.  He made two saves for his first shutout of the season in the win over Drake.  Ghitis totaled five saves including stopping a penalty kick to secure a 1-1 tie against No. 8 Creighton.

Home-aha
Seniors Jake McCain and Mark Moulton, junior Michael Jaime, sophomores Adam Gottschalk, Noor Hamadi and Quinn Nelson and freshman Joey McCain didn't have to travel a long distance as they made the transition from high school to college.  All seven call the Omaha metro area home.  Moulton attended Creighton Prep, the McCains attended Papillion-LaVista South, Jaime and Hamadi went to Omaha South, Gottschalk graduated from Skutt Catholic and Nelson came from Westside.

Summit League Preseason Poll
Omaha was picked to finish second in the 2016 Summit League Preseason Poll, and senior midfielder Mark Moulton was named to the Preseason Summit League Watch List, the league office announced in August.

Denver was picked as the favorite to win the league title with 36 points and six first-place votes. The Pioneers enter the 2016 season after sweeping the conference regular and postseason titles.

Oral Roberts was predicted to come in third, with 26 points and the one remaining first-place vote. Western Illinois polled in at fourth place, collecting 21 points.  Fort Wayne came in fifth with 14 points, followed by Eastern Illinois (11 points) in sixth and IUPUI (eight points) in seventh.

Tough Road Ahead
Omaha's 2016 schedule includes 17 regular-season matches, and the team will play in five different states.  Eight different conferences appear on the 2016 schedule including two teams each from the BIG EAST, Missouri Valley and Pac-12.  Five teams that participated in the 2015 College Cup appear on this year's schedule.  All five teams -- Connecticut, Creighton, Denver, Drake and Stanford -- advanced to the second round, highlighted by Creighton in the quarterfinals and Stanford winning the national championship.

UNO plays Air Force, Cal, Connecticut, Creighton, San Francisco and Penn in the regular-season for the first time.

A+ Accolades
Last season, the Mavericks were recognized as one of 205 collegiate men's soccer teams to surpass a 3.0 team grade-point average during 2014-15, ending the academic year with a team GPA of 3.16.  UNO has earned four-straight team academic awards.

Senior Mark Moulton was selected to the CoSIDA Men's Soccer Division I Academic All-American Second Team in 2015.  Moulton is a business administration major and owns a 3.98 GPA.

Four Omaha soccer players – Felipe da Silva, Logan Mendez, Mark Moulton and Joseph Ghitis – were named to the 2015 Summit League Men's Soccer Academic All-League Team last season.

Getting to Know Coach Mims
Jason Mims was appointed as the first head coach in program history in 2011 and has built a program that has received national recognition across the country.

Last season, UNO finished with a 9-6-3 overall mark and advanced to the Summit League Tournament for the first time.  Mims' team achieved the program's first Top 25 ranking after starting the season 6-1-1. He was named the Summit League Coach of the Year following the 2014 season in which the Mavericks tied for the Summit League regular-season title.

Assisting Mims is Tim Walters, who is in his sixth season, and volunteer goalkeeper coach Daniel Galvis, who is in his third year on the Maverick staff.

Summit League Success
Omaha went 3-2-1 in Summit League play in 2015, tying for second in the regular-season league standings.  It marked the Mavericks' first time qualifying for the Summit League Tournament.

Welcome the Newcomers
Omaha's roster features 11 new players (six freshmen, two redshirt freshmen, two transfers and a redshirt junior) to the squad this season.  The breakdown includes four defenders, three forwards, two mid-fielders and two goalkeepers as Omaha reloads its roster under head coach Jason Mims.

Featuring a diverse class hailing from four countries and five different states, the Mavericks look to utilize their newcomers to help them return to the Summit League Tournament.

Newcomers (Year, Pos., Hometown)
Ray Barajas (Jr., D, Loyola Marymount/Mexico City, Mexico)
Ethan Bowman (RFr., MF, Drake/Shawnee, Kan.)
Jose Camberos (Fr., GK, Kansas City, Mo.)
Fred Frimpong (Jr., F, Ankeny, Iowa)
Xavier Gomez (Jr., MF, Chicago, Ill.)
Emmanuel Hamzat (Jr., F, West Valley College/Lagos, Nigeria)
Elvir Ibisevic (Fr., F, Urbandale, Iowa)
Joel Kazhila (Fr., D, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Joey McCain (Fr., D, Omaha, Neb.)
Seth Rinderknecht (Fr., D, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Ugo Tritz (Fr., GK, Metz, France)

Up Next
The Mavericks return to action on Monday, Oct. 3 against Valparaiso at 7 p.m.  Noah Sullinger and Alex Abler will have the call on the MavRadio broadcast, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available at OMavs.com.