GCU continues road trip at Creighton on Friday

Friday, September 1

Omaha, Neb.

5:30 p.m. (Phoenix time)

Grand Canyon

Creighton

Photo by: Sebastian Molinar

8/31/2023 12:00:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Live Stats Watch (FloFC)Game Notes

Kraus leads Lopes for 1st time against alma mater in Omaha

By: Nick Macdonald

Friday, Sept. 1 \| 5:30 p.m. \| Morrison Stadium \| Omaha, Nebraska

	(RV) Creighton BLUE JAYS (0-1-1)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (0-2)

WATCH: FloFC \| STATS: Link

The Lopes continue their four-game road trip with back-to-back games in Omaha, Nebraska, starting with (RV) Creighton on Friday evening at Morrison Stadium.

AT A GLANCE

The Lopes dropped the first two matches of the four-game trip, both to teams ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll.
GCU junior goalkeeper Leon Schmidt is tied for first in saves (10) and saves per game (5.0) in the WAC. In his 14 games in a Lope uniform, Schmidt has nine games with four or more saves.
The Lopes brought in 16 new players for this season's roster, including 11 freshmen. Of the 31 players on the roster, 24 are underclassmen.
Sophomore Bright Nutornutsi scored his second career goal and the team's first goal of the season at Wake Forest. The sophomore forward has two goals and four assists in 15 career appearances.
GCU head coach Mike Kraus returns to his alma mater, Creighton, for the first time as a head coach. Kraus, who graduated from Creighton in 2007, helped lead the Blue Jays to the NCAA tournament in each of his four seasons, including two College Cup appearances while earning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors in 2006.

SCHMIDT NEARS 100 CAREER SAVES

Junior goalkeeper Leon Schmidt is nearing a milestone in his second season at GCU, as he is 12 saves short of 100 for his career.
In 14 games in a Lope uniform, Schmidt has nine games with four or more saves, including two five-save performances this season. The Hamburg, Germany, native had 28 saves in his lone year at Coastal Carolina in 2021 before a career-best 50 in 14 games played for GCU last season.

SCOUTING CREIGHTON

Creighton enters Friday night with a 0-1-1 record after falling 3-1 at No. 7 Stanford and battling to a 0-0 draw at UC Irvine.
Friday's match is the Bluejays' first of the season at Morrison Stadium after two games at Stanford and UC Irvine.
The Bluejays are coming off a College Cup appearance last season, when they won the Big East Tournament in three games and defeated Missouri State, Washington, Tulsa and Duke in the NCAA tournament prior to a 3-2 loss to Syracuse in the College Cup semifinal.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Lopes return home after four games on the road and will play four straight matches at GCU Stadium.
The home opener will be Friday, Sept. 8, vs. Stetson.
GCU then hosts UC Santa Barbara, San Diego and Houston Christian during the homestand. UC Santa Barbara and San Diego made the 2022 NCAA tournament.