OMAHA, Neb. – Fresh off its first Summit League Championship, the Omaha men's soccer team visits Florida International for the first round of the NCAA Championship on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. CT at the FIU Soccer Complex in Miami, Fla.
Scouting Omaha
Omaha finished the regular season winning two of its last three for a 10-5-3 overall record and a 2-1-2 mark in Summit League play. The Mavericks earned the third seed in the Summit League Tournament. UNO stopped second-seeded Western Illinois in the semifinals, and then played top-seed Denver to a 1-1 draw in double overtime. Omaha outlasted Denver 9-8 in an 11-round shootout to claim the conference's automatic bid the NCAA Tournament.
The Mavericks average 1.5 goals and 1.72 assists per game. UNO led the Summit League in goals (27), assists (31) and points (85).
Elvir Ibisevic leads Omaha with 19 points from nine goals and an assist.
Xavier Gomez adds18 points from five goals and eight assists.
Emmanuel Hamzat chips in 16 points on seven goals and two assists.
The tandem of
Joseph Ghitis and
Ugo Tritz has recorded seven shutouts and a 0.79 goals-against average this season. Ghitis is 8-5-3 with a 0.90 goals-against average with a .776 save percentage and five shutouts. Tritz is 2-0-0 with two shutouts and three saves.
Scouting Florida International
The Panthers enter Thursday's contest 11-1-4 overall record and won the Conference USA regular season. FIU dropped a 3-1 decision to Charlotte in the Conference USA semifinals.
Florida International is one of the top offensive teams in the nation, averaging 2.94 goals and 2.5 assists per game. FIU also leads the nation in total points (134), goals (47) and assists (40).
Santiago Patino leads the Panthers with 35 points from 15 goals and five assists. Alessandro Campoy has 22 points from seven goals and eight assists, while Paul Marie has seven goals and four assists. Hugo Fauroux has recorded three shutouts and a 1.22 goals against average this season.
Maverick-Panther History
Omaha and Florida International have never met on the soccer pitch in program history. The Panthers are the ninth new opponent on the UNO schedule this year, including Creighton, Florida Gulf Coast, Houston Baptist, Michigan, Northern Illinois, Utah Valley, UTRGV, and Virginia Tech.
The Mavericks own a 4-4 mark against new foes this year, including wins over Houston Baptist, Utah Valley, UTRGV and Virginia Tech. Omaha played road matches (2-2) against new opponents FGCU, Michigan, Utah Valley and UTRGV, and neutral site (1-1) games against Houston Baptist and Northern Illinois.
Looking Back – Summit League Title
For the first time in school history, the Omaha men's soccer team earned a Summit League Men's Soccer Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. After a 1-1 draw, Omaha outlasted top-seeded Denver 9-8 in an 11-round shootout Saturday afternoon at Caniglia Field.
Emmanuel Hamzat converted two penalty kicks in an 11-round shootout and was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and a member of the All-Tournament team. Goalkeeper
Joseph Ghitis made three saves and converted a penalty kick in the shootout.
Scott DeVoss' header gave Denver the lead in the 26th minute off a set piece service from Jacob Stensson. Stensson served a ball into the penalty area where a Denver player put a header over Ghitis, and Devoss outmuscled a Maverick defender to finish the opportunity and put the Pioneers ahead 1-0.
The Mavericks trailed for 1:19 before
Xavier Gomez fired a penalty kick into the lower left corner to level the score 1-1. After beating a Denver defender into the penalty area, Hamzat was taken down by another Pioneer defender to earn the penalty kick.
Gomez nearly put Omaha ahead in the 75th minute, but his shot from the top of the box bounced off the crossbar. Less than a minute later, the Pioneers' Alex Underwood fired a shot from 25-yards out forcing Ghitis to make a diving save. Hamzat crushed a shot from inside the penalty area in the 78th minute forcing Denver's Nick Gardner to make a save.
The second session of overtime saw an early chance for Omaha on a shot from Hamzat that was saved by Gardner.
The best chance of overtime was in the 108th minute on a well-struck shot by Denver's Kenny Akamatsu. However, Ghitis made a diving fingertip save to keep UNO in the game and push the match into a shootout.
The shootout began with DU's Alex Underwood converting on his penalty kick attempt, while Omaha's Hamzat scored against Denver's backup goalkeeper Will Palmquist, who was brought in for the shootout, replacing Gardner.
Denver's Shae Smalley, Graham Smith and Jacob Stensson each scored their penalty kicks. Omaha's
Xavier Gomez,
Jacob Weiler and
Joseph Ghitis kept things level by making their shots.
Summit League Offensive Player of the Year Andre Shinyashiki had his shot stopped by Ghitis. Palmquist kept the Pioneers in the match by stopping Omaha's fifth shooter.
AJ Fuller and Kyle Morlack each hit their PK's for Denver, and Omaha answered with goals by
Diego Gutierrez and
Cole Nelson.
Ghitis then stopped Akamatsu's attempt to give the Mavericks another shot at the win. Palmquist again denied UNO's attempt. Blake Elder and Ryan Barlow kept the pressure on Omaha by making their shots, but
Miguel Gomez and
Ethan Bowman each converted their chances.
Smith stepped up for his second chance in the shootout for the Pioneers, but this time Ghitis stopped his shot. Hamzat then blasted a shot just over the outstretched arms of Palmquist to give Omaha its first Summit League title and berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Maverick Tidbits
- Omaha's 10 wins are tied for the most in program history (2016, 2014).
- UNO advanced to the championship of the Summit League Tournament for the second-straight year.
- Omaha played Creighton in front of a program-high 4,986 fans at Caniglia Field on Sept. 26.
- Through 17 games this season, UNO has started 19 different players. Four different Mavericks have played over 1,300 minutes in defender Seth Rinderknecht, goalkeeper Joseph Ghitis and midfielders Xavier Gomez and Cole Nelson. Elvir Ibisevic and Jacob Weiler each have played over 1,150 minutes.
- Nine players have made their Omaha debuts this year, highlighted by Diego Gutierrez, Stevie Siy and Miguel Gomez combing for 29 starts, two goals and eight assists.
- Outscoring teams 27-15 on the season thus far, Omaha has outscored opponents 16-5 in the first half of the match. UNO is 2-2-2 when it concedes the first goal and 8-3 when scoring first.
Helpers
UNO has racked up the assists this season. The 32 total assists are tied for most in program history (2014). Fourteen Mavericks have contributed assists this season, led by eight from
Xavier Gomez.
Defensive Minded
Against Western Illinois, UNO registered its seventh shutout of the season. It was the Mavericks third shutout in the last four games.
Omaha has posted the second-most clean sheets in program history with seven. The school record of eight was set in 2014.
Golden Feet
Over the past two seasons,
Elvir Ibisevic and
Emmanuel Hamzat have had the right touch, collecting a combined 11 game-winning goals. Ibisevic and Hamzat each have three winners in 2017.
Ibisevic has six career-game winning strikes and ranks second all-time, while Hamzat has five.
Marvelous Mavericks
Eleven Omaha players were named to the 2017 All-Summit League Men's Soccer Teams before the start of the conference tournament.
The first team included five Mavericks: senior midfielder
Xavier Gomez, senior forward
Emmanuel Hamzat, sophomore forward
Elvir Ibisevic, sophomore defender
Seth Rinderknecht and senior defender
Jacob Weiler. Two more UNO players earned a spot on the second team: senior goalkeeper
Joseph Ghitis and junior midfielder
Cole Nelson. Four additional Mavericks garnered a spot on the all-newcomer team: senior midfielder
Brahan Gamarra, freshman midfielder
Miguel Gomez, freshman midfielder
Diego Gutierrez and freshman defender
Stevie Siy.
Ghitis, Hamzat, Ibisevic, Rinderknecht and Weiler repeated as all-conference picks. Ghitis, Hamzat, Ibisevic and Rinderknecht were previously first-team selections in 2016, while Weiler was a second-team honoree.
