LEADING OFF
Omaha (7-6-3, 2-4-1) men's soccer closes out the season with Senior Day festivities against Summit League leader, #4 Denver, at Caniglia Field at 1:00 p.m..
The match will be televised on The Summit League Network.
The most recent meeting between the teams was October 17 in Denver when the Pioneers blanked Omaha 2-0. The loss came in the midst of a five game winless stretch that pushed the Mavericks from Summit League contention.
The diverse Omaha program says goodbye to twelve seniors from across the globe, several a part of the program for all four seasons. They will be honored prior to the game, which will feature a multimedia presentation as well.
HEAD COACH DONOVAN DOWLING
"It's a bittersweet ending with these 12 seniors. Many of them were here when our staff arrived, and have been an integral part of the program. I look forward to being there when each of these guys graduate either in December or May, and will enjoy watching all of their future successes in life."
CLASS OF 2024
The Mavericks have steadily risen to soccer respect during the tenure of this class. On the heels of the COVID-19 epidemic, Omaha was 6-10-1/4-2-0 in what was the freshman season for Naz Astwood and Thore Boehm, and Nathanael Sallah as well as a sophomore season, COVID eligibility, for Abdi Adan.
The 2022 season was the dawn of the Donovan Dowling era, and the Mavericks improved to 8-6-2/5-2-1, including a competitive 1-0 loss in the Summit League tournament against Denver.
Then came the thrilling rise to the Summit League title, tournament championship and NCAA tournament experience of 2023. The Mavericks shut out Oral Roberts (1-0) and Kansas City (2-0) to earn the NCAA bid. They lost 1-0 to Missouri State in the opening round. In those four years, the Mavericks are 29-30-10 overall, 14-11-4 in the conference.
LAST TIME OUT
The Omaha Mavericks exploded for one of their largest shutout wins in Summit League history, downing St. Thomas 5-0 in St. Paul last Saturday afternoon.
Five different players found the net - all in the second half - for the win over the Tommies. The last time Omaha posted a five goal shutout win came in 2022 when they downed Lindenwood 5-0.
Sophomore Italo Jenkins, Mikey Stukenholtz, Theo Klein, Carson Chochon and Mathis Pilon St-Louis all scored. Redshirt junior Cole Stewart earned his second shutout in three starts this season. He only needed one save to secure the clean sheet.
SUMMIT SCENE
There is no men's soccer tournament in the Summit League this season, so the league championship - and NCAA bid that goes with it - will be determined in a matchup of the top two teams.
Denver has clainmed the regular season title already, and will host either Oral Roberts or Kansas City in the Summit League Championshiip Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. CT. Oral Roberts visits Kansas City at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon to determine that spot. A win by either team will clinch a title game appearance, while a draw would send Kansas City to Denver.
HOME IS WHERE THE START IS
The Mavericks started the regular season 4-0 for the second time in school history and the first time since 2017, when they opened the season 6-0 en route to regular season and post-season Summit League titles, including the school's first Division I NCAA bid.
Donovan Dowling, the Mavericks have an impressive mark of 15-6-5 at Caniglia Field, including this year's seven match unbeaten string to open the slate (4-2-3).
MEMORABLES
Naz Astwood was the lone Omaha Maverick to receive in-season conference honors in 2024 heading into the final week. The senior from Bermuda was named Summit League Peak Defensive Performer of the Week for week two, his first career weekly league honor.
In seven victories, six different Mavericks have delivered game-winning goals: Italo Jenkins (St. Thomas), Junior Casillas (SIUE), Naz Astwood (Loyola), Theo Klein (San Francisco and St. Thomas), Mathis Pilon St-Louis (Florida Atlantic) and Brett Perkins (Oakland).
Captains for the season are seniors Nathanael Sallah, Thore Boehm and Theo Klein, who have played in a combined 166 matches for Omaha, starting 152. Boehm and Klein are the only players tohave started every game this season.
With 18 career goals, Klein is just one shy of the Mavericks career mark of 19 held by Vance Rookwood (2011-2014). In three seasons for Omaha, Klein and Mathis Pilon St-Louis each have six career game winning goals, two fewer than Rookwood.
Tickets for the remaining home match are available at Omavs.com/tix.
MAVERICKS-PIONEERS HISTORY
Denver leads the all-time series 2-12-2 and has claimed four straight wins from the Mavericks. Three of those have been by 1-0 margins, and this year's previous meeting by a 2-0 margin at Denver.
The Mavericks didn't get their first shot of any kind until the 34th minute, when they already trailed 1-0 on Sam Bassett's goal. The Pioneers became just the second team to take a two goal lead on Omaha this year when Kyle McGowan found too much room to work in front of the Mavericks goal in the 36th minute.
The Mavericks best chance came with about 11:00 to play as Omaha scoring leader Theo Klein took a free kick from straight on, just outside the box, driving a blast over the defensive wall and into the post at the top right hand corner.
SCOUTING DENVER
Ian Smith scored a second-half game-winner and the Pioneers kept their third clean sheet in the last four matches to clinch the program's 10th Summit League regular season title after a 1-0 win over Oral Roberts last Saturday. DU's trophy is its 18th Summit League piece of hardware out of a possible 22.
