SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State men's soccer faces its first non-conference opponent with a neutral match showdown against former Missouri Valley Conference rival Creighton on Wednesday, March 10 at Swope Park in Kansas City, Mo.
 

#19 Missouri State vs. Creighton
Date	Wednesday, March 10 | 2:00 p.m.
Location	Kansas City, Mo.
Site	Swope Park (Field 1)
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Match Details
The neutral match will kick off at 2 p.m. from Swope Park (Field 1) in Kansas City, Mo.
 
For all of the latest information and in-game updates on the Missouri State men's soccer team, visit MissouriStateBears.com or follow @MSUBearsMSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.
 
Quick Kicks

• No. 19 Missouri State (2-0-0, 2-0-0 MVC) earned its first road win of 2021 after defeating Drake, 1-0 on Thursday, March 4 in Des Moines, Iowa.  Dawson Lee's goal in the 72nd minute proved to be the game-winner as the Bears posted their second straight shutout victory to seal a 2-0 start to the spring season.    
• With the win against Drake, the Bears increased its regular-season winning streak to 18 games, dating back to the start of 2019.  It was also their 12th straight regular-season league win.
• Lee (Jr., MF/D, Belton, Mo.) was named MVC Offensive Player of the Week for his game-winning goal against the Bulldogs.  After entering in the 61st minute, Lee's first goal of the season came on a pass he collected from Nicolo Mulatero just outside the top of the box and lifted a shot over the approaching goalkeeper.  He became the third MSU player to garner one of the conference's weekly awards after Mulatero and Connor Langan swept both categories last week (March 2).
• Mulatero (Jr., F, Givoletto, Italy) has recorded an assist in each of the first two contests while scoring a goal against Bradley.  He leads the Valley in points (4), assists (2), and shots per game (3.50).  He received MVC Offensive Player of the Week honors on March 2 for his performance against the Braves.
• The Missouri State defense has posted back-to-back shutouts to begin the 2021 season, allowing 13 shots – six of them on goal – in two matches.  Goalkeeper Michael Creek has collected six saves on the year while increasing his career clean sheets to 15 games, which ranks fifth on the program's all-time list.
• The Bears were unanimously selected to repeat as conference champions in the Valley preseason poll that was released on Feb. 2.  MSU received all five first-place votes and were followed by last year's MVC tournament champion, Loyola (19) while Drake (13), Bradley (11) and Evansville (7) rounded out the five-team poll.  Creek, Jack Denton, Josh Dolling and Kyle Hiebert were also named to the 11-man preseason All-MVC team that was revealed alongside the poll.
• MSU's roster includes the reigning MVC Defensive Player of the Year, Hiebert, and MVC Goalkeeper of the Year, Creek. They joined senior forward Dolling on the 2019 All-MVC first team ballot while Denton (second team), Greg Stratton (honorable mention) and Kian Yari (all-freshman) round out the Bears' six returners who received conference postseason honors last season.
• Dolling and Hiebert were also named to the 2020-21 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy watch list.  The Bears duo were selected as United Soccer Coaches All-Americans in 2019.
• MSU debuted at No. 19 in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll that was announced Tuesday, March 9.  The Bears also hold rankings in a pair of media polls, No. 9 in the College Soccer News Top 30 poll (March 8) and No. 24 in Top Drawer Soccer's Top 25 rankings (March 8).
• Bears head coach Jon Leamy is in his 29th season leading the Bears' program as the winningest coach in school history with a 282-185-66 (.591) overall record. He began the 2020-21 season ranked 24th among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.

Know the Foe

• Creighton (2-1-0, 2-0-0 Big East) defeated Xavier, 2-1 on Saturday (March 6) to stay undefeated in Big East play.  The Bluejays were picked to finish second in the Midwest Division in the Big East Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• Bluejays goalkeeper Paul Kruse, who has back-to-back Big East Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year honors, has snagged three saves while allowing four goals in his two starts this year.  Forward Diego Gutierrez scored both goals in Creighton's 2-1 victory over Xavier.  In his first season with the Bluejays after transferring from Omaha, Gutierrez was selected in third round (70th overall) of the 2021 MLS SuperDraft.
• Johnny Torres is 10-8-2 in his second season as head coach for the Bluejays.  He had an illustrious career playing for Creighton from 1994-97 where he earned MVC Player of the Year and won the MAC Hermann Trophy in his 1997 season.  This will be his first time coaching against Missouri State, but was 5-1 against the Bears as a player.

Series History

• Creighton leads 22-18-4 all-time in a series that dates back to 1983.  This will be the first meeting between the former conference foes since Sept. 29, 2015 where the Bears fell 4-0 to a top-ranked Bluejays team.  
• MSU is 0-5 in neutral matches against Creighton.  The most recent neutral matchup between the two teams was in the 2008 MVC Tournament Championship with the Bluejays winning, 1-0.
• Head coach Jon Leamy is 7-20-4 against Creighton with his last win coming on a 1-0 victory over the No. 4-ranked Bluejays on Oct. 12, 2011.