Bluejay Men's Soccer Will Honor Seniors Prior to Championship Battle with #19 Akron

Omaha, Neb. -- Creighton Men's Soccer will honor seniors Pablo Andrade, Ben Foulks, Martin Herrera, Luka Nedic, Owen Nelson, Ali Ramadan, Omar Ramadan and Ryusei Shimonishi before facing off with #19 Akron on Friday, November 7 at Morrison Stadium. The match with the Zip will decide the BIG EAST Midwest Division Championship and is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m.

#19 Akron at Creighton
Friday, November 7 @ 6:00 pm

ESPN+: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/868d3747-0a4c-4218-acc6-2ba0463e4715

Live Stats: http://creighton.statbroadcast.com

Series History: Creighton trails Akron, 4-2-2
Creighton and Akron meet for the ninth time on Friday. The Bluejays posted a 3-2 win over the Zips the last time Akron came to Omaha. Overall the Bluejays trail the series with Akron 4-2-2. In Nebraska the Bluejays are 2-0-1 versus Akron.

Date Opponent Score
Oct. 27, 2010 at #1 Akron L, 0-1
Aug. 31, 2012 vs. #7 Akron T, 1-1 (2OT)
Nov. 25, 2012 $ ^ at #1 Akron T, 1-1 (2OT)
Dec. 5, 2015 $ at #5 Akron L, 2-3 (2OT)
Oct. 16, 2018 at Akron L, 0-1
Sept. 6, 2019 vs. #21 Akron W, 2-1
Oct. 18, 2023 vs. #7 Akron W, 3-2
Oct. 23, 2024 at #23 Akron L, 0-3
$ = NCAA Tournament
^ = Creighton advanced on penalty kicks, 5-4

Follow the Match
Online streaming for the contest will be available on at ESPN+, while live stats will be featured through Stat Broadcast. The duo of Jon Schriner and Rob Simms have the call on Friday.

Scouting #19 Akron (10-3-3; 4-2-1 BIG EAST)
Ahead enters the match at Creighton having won or tied their last five matches. Most recently, Akron defeated Marquette 2-0 for goalkeeper Mitch Budler's 10th shutout of the season. Budler has allowed just 10 goals and executed 36 saves this season.

Offensively, the Zips struck twice against the Golden Eagles, scoring both times off the foot of forward Stefan Dobrijevic.

Dobrijevic's first goal came from a successful penalty kick in the 61st minute. He followed up the score 20 minutes later with an insurance goal to give the Zips a 2-0 victory.

This season, Dobrijevic leads the Akron offense with eight goals and nine assists. The senior is also responsible for a goal or an assist in each of Akron's last four matches. In this time, he recorded five goals and four assists.

Scouting Creighton (8-3-4, 4-1-2 BIG EAST)
A critical 1-1 draw against Seton Hall on Nov. 1 kept the Bluejays one point ahead of Akron in the Midwest Division standings.

In the matchup with the visiting Pirates, the Bluejays sole score of the game came from Brady Bragg, who recorded his first career goal on an assist from Luka Nedic.

Bragg's header came 25 minutes after Creighton relinquished the first score of the match in the 7th minute. Following the early Pirate score, the Bluejay clawed back to find 1-1 result.

Prior to the Seton Hall contest, the Bluejays hadn't given up a goal in the first 10 minutes since playing Michigan — Creighton's third match of the season. The opening goal by the Pirates broke this 11 game streak.

Creighton's scoring attack has evened out over the course of the season. Miguel Arilla still heads up the offense with six goals but nine other Bluejays notched a goal.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Matthew Hudson has surrendered 15 goals, made 47 saves and tallied seven shutouts over the 2025 campaign.

How to Reach the BIG EAST Tournament
The BIG EAST Conference Tournament is a four-team, single elimination style format. The top team in each division will earn the number one and number two seed, while the other two remaining spots will go to the two best teams overall, regardless of which division.

Semifinal matchups are set with the number one seed facing the number four seed, and the number two seed and number three seed matchup against each other. Both winners will advance to the championship match.

Tiebreakers for seeding are determined in order by head-to-head results, total points against all common opponents, record against the top team in the common opponent pool, goal differential among common opponent, and finally, the team's RPI based on the latest NCAA release.

If three or more teams are tied at the end of the regular season, they are grouped into a "mini-conference" and the team with the most points in those matchups gains the advantage. If ties still remain, or if teams did not play each other, the process continues through the same criteria until all teams are seeded.

For the Bluejays the path to the BIG EAST Tournament is simple, win or tie and Creighton will clinch the No. 2 seed as the Midwest Division Champion.
With a loss Creighton will need a Georgetown victory and a winner in the match between Connecticut and Seton Hall to claim the No. 4 seed.

Brady Bragg First Career Goal against Seton Hall
The Bluejays trailing 1-0 early in the first half against Seton Hall was no more after the 32nd minute. Redshirt freshmen Brady Bragg finished a series of passes from Ryusei Shimonishi and Luka Nedic with a leaping header to the lower corner of the net to hit the equalizer and Bragg putting his name in the books, scoring his first career collegiate goal.

Bluejay Men's Soccer Will Honor Seniors Prior to Championship Battle with #19 Akron

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Players Mentioned

Pablo Andrade

Miguel Arilla

Brady Bragg

Ben Foulks

Martin Herrera

Matthew Hudson

Luka Nedic

Owen Nelson

Ali Ramadan

Omar Ramadan

Ryusei Shimonishi