Lopes conclude road trip Monday evening at Omaha

Monday, September 4

Omaha, Neb.

5 p.m. (Phoenix time)

Grand Canyon

Omaha

Photo by: Jaylynn Nash LLC

9/3/2023 3:45:00 PM | Men's Soccer

GCU looks for 2nd straight win in Nebraska after win at Creighton

By: Nick Macdonald

Monday, Sept. 4 \| 5 p.m. \| Caniglia Field \| Omaha, Nebraska

	Omaha MAVERICKS (0-3)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (1-2)

WATCH: MidcoSportsPlus ($) \| STATS: Link

Grand Canyon concludes its four-game road trip with a Monday evening contest vs.Omaha at Caniglia Field.

The Lopes close out a four-game road trip Monday evening at Omaha. The four road games to open the season are GCU's most since 2013 (seven).
GCU defeated (RV) Creighton, 2-1, Saturday evening in Omaha for its first victory of the season. The win was the third under head coach Mike Kraus against teams ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll, following last season's wins against (RV) Virginia Tech and No. 4 UCLA
Lopes sophomore goalkeeper Leon Schmidt is tied for first in the WAC for saves (10) and saves per game (5.0). In his 14 games in a Lope uniform, Schmidt has totaled nine games with four or more saves.
The Lopes brought in 16 new players to this season's roster, which includes 11 freshmen. Of the 31 players on the roster, 24 are underclassmen.
Sophomore forward Bright Nutornutsi scored his second career goal and the first team goal of the season at Wake Forest. The sophomore forward has two goals and four assists in 15 games played so far for his career.

After starting the season 0-2, with losses at No. 18 Wake Forest and (RV) Denver, GCU bounced back against another receiving-votes team in Creighton, defeating the Bluejays 2-1 at Morrison Stadium for its first win of the season.
The Lopes scored the first goal of the match in the 40th minute off the foot of graduate forward Lucas Fecci, the second time in three games GCU struck first. Nutornutsi broke the 1-1 tie in the 73rd minute and GCU recorded its third victory over teams ranked or receiving votes under Kraus since 2022.
Schmidt had a career night with eight saves, including five in the first half. Along with Fecci, sophomore midfielder Cameron Cruz tallied his first career point with an assist to Nutornutsi for the eventual game-winning goal.

Omaha enters the Monday evening contest against the Lopes 0-3 overall and 0-1 at home.
The Mavericks have scored the first goal in each of their three matches and have totaled eight points with three goals and two assists.
The team's on-shot goal percentage sits at .448 while starting goalkeeper Lute Lillo Portero has made saves.

The Lopes return home after four games on the road with four straight matches at GCU Stadium.
The first of the four will be Friday, Sept. 8, vs. Stetson.
GCU also hosts UC Santa Barbara, San Diego and Houston Christian during the homestand, with UC Santa Barbara and San Diego qualifying for last year's NCAA tournament..