Leading Off
The Omaha Mavericks are wheels up to Missouri State for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Oddly enough, the Mavericks are no stranger to their opponent or the trip to Springfield in the opening round, as they played the Bears in early October. The recently crowned Summit League Tournament Champions will start their run in the national stage when they kick off this Thursday Nov. 16, 2023.

Follow the Match
The links to live stats and streams are on Omavs.com.

Quick Kicks
    • The Mavericks head into the national tournament with a 8-6-4 overall record. 
    • Omaha matched up with Missouri State for their last non-conference game of the season. While in Springfield the first time around, No. 16 Missouri State came out with the win 2-1. Despite falling to their ranked opponent, Omaha held their own. Stats were relatively equal in each category, including shots being tied 10-10. The teams went into the half tied, but the Bears pulled ahead in the 76th minute. 
    • On the season, the Mavericks have scored 30 goals, holding opponents to 26. Defensively, Omaha has held opponents to just 215 shots (11.3) per game, and 1.37 goals per game. 
    •  The Mavericks took home nine All-League awards, as announced Wednesday morning by the conference. 
    • Theo Klein leads the team with 17 points, off eight goals and one assist. Six of his eight goals have come off the penalty kick, which breaks the all-time record for penalty kicks in a season, and PKs scored by an individual.  
    • The five Mavericks to lead with four assists each include Junior Casillas, Abdi Adan, Sokol Ymeraj, Wawa Palga, and Martin Lago. 
    • Nationally, Omaha ranks 29th for their saves per game (4.47).
    • Nathanael Sallah broke into the top 20 nationally for his .797 save percent. He's currently 19th of 146. 
    • Nathanael Sallah has recorded a .797 save percentage while only 1.10 goals against. On the season, Sallah tied his career high seven saves against Oral Roberts and Kansas City last weekend, boosting him to 55 saves on the season. His shutout in the title match boosts him to six this year. 

Mavericks in the Postseason
The last time Omaha made it to the final round of the Summit League tournament was 2019. when they fell 1-0 to Denver. Last season, the Mavericks came up short 1-0 to Denver in the semifinals. The only conference tournament title the program has won came in 2017 after a PK shootout over Denver. This will be the fifth time since 2015 the Mavericks have made the championship game. 

Omaha claimed their second conference tournament title of program history. With a win of the Summit League Tournament the Mavericks got the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This will be the third time Omaha has made a run in the Men's Soccer College Cup. The first came in 2017 after they won their first Tournament title. Omaha's run was short as they fell in the first game to No. 13 Florida International 2-0. Their second time around was in 2020 after Denver could not compete because of COVID protocols so Omaha was next in line for the bid. This time they made it to the second round after beating No. 23 UNC Greensboro 3-2. They were matched up against No. 4 Stanford in for the following match were they had a close game that concluded in overtime after Stanford called game 1-0.  

Scouting the Missouri State Bears
The Missouri State Bears come into the match with an 11-3-3- overall record, and went 6-1-1 in Missouri Valley conference play. The Bears play 4-4-2 put a lot of pressure on their opponents defense. Aside from a strong offensive presence, the defense holds town the other end of the pitch, only allowing 11 goals on the season (.65 goals per game). The Bears have taken 223 shots compared to the 93 shots they have allowed. Although only allowing 93 shots this season, 53 (.570%) of them have been on goal. 

Bears to Watch
    • Jesus Barea is tied for first with 14 points with five goals and four assists. He leads the team with 44 shots, for a .114 shot percent. He's scored three game winners for the Bears and gone 1-1 on the PK.
    • Gijs Hovius is also tied with 14 points off six goals and two assists. Having only taken 17 shots, he leads the team with a .353 shot percentage.  

Bears Goalkeeping
Harry Townsend has played and started in 15 matches for Missouri State. He's made 30 saves while only allowing nine goals on the season for a .769 save percentage and .60 goals against average.  

Series History
The Mavericks have yet to beat the Bears has they have gone 0-4-1 in the all-time series record against them. 

Press Conference with Head Coach Donovan Dowling, Kyle Reese and Nathanael Sallah