Leathernecks Ready for Round-Trip Weekend

WIU is set to take on No. 8 Creighton Friday (Sept. 5) and Green Bay Sunday (Sept. 7)

MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's soccer team is poised for a double feature weekend that leads off on Friday (Sept. 5) with a matchup in Omaha, Neb. against No. 8 Creighton at 7:30 p.m. and wraps up Sunday (Sept. 7) with the Leathernecks 2014 home opener against the Green Bay Phoenix at 12 p.m. on John MacKenzie Alumni Field.

MATCH LOGISTICS

Friday, September 5
WHO: Western Illinois at Creighton
WHEN: Friday, September 5 at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Morrison Stadium, Omaha, Neb.
LIVE STATS: HERE
VIDEO STREAMING: HERE
SOCIAL MEDIA: @WIUMensSoccer
(Subscription for video stream required)

Sunday, September 7
WHO: Western Illinois vs. Green Bay
WHEN: Sunday, September 7 at 12 p.m.
WHERE: John MacKenzie Alumni Field
LIVE STATS: HERE
SOCIAL MEDIA: @WIUMensSoccer

WEEKEND NOTES:

A LOOK AT THE BLUEJAYS: Creighton enters Friday's match against Western with a 2-0 record after beating Santa Clara 1-0 on August 31 and knocking off No. #20 Stanford 2-0 on August 29...The Bluejay's unbeaten start has placed them No. #8 nationally in the NSCAA Coaches Poll and No. #1 regionally...Creighton head coach Elmar Bolowich is in his fourth season as head man with a three year record of 47-15-6 at Creighton and 327-159-46 in his career...The Bluejays return eight starters from 2013 including the team's leading scorer from 2012 and 2013, Timo Pitter...Creighton's leading scorer thus far in 2014 has been freshman Ricky Lopez-Espin who has scored 2 goals and notched one assist....Junior goalkeeper Connor Sparrow has taken over the starting job from 2013 starter Alex Bolowich...Sparrow has recorded 16 saves with zero goals allowed in two starts and 180 minutes in goal...The Bluejays have reached 21 of the last 22 NCAA tournaments, including a short-lived 2013 appearance which ended with a 2-1 loss to Seattle.

A LOOK AT THE PHOENIX: Green Bay enters the weekend with a record of 1-1 featuring a season opening 1-0 double overtime win against Grand Canyon on August 29, followed by a 3-4 single overtime loss to DePaul...The Phoenix are set to play Drake University in Des Moines on Friday (Sept. 5) before traveling to Macomb for the matchup with Western on Sunday (Sept. 7)...Green Bay is led by first year interim head coach Marc Baumbach who joined the program in June 2014 after leading NCAA Division III Buena Vista for five seasons...After returning seven of their nine top point scorers from 2013, the Phoenix are lead on offense by Jordan Dover (2 goals) and Audi Jepson (one goal two asssists) with four points each through two games....In preseaon play the Phoenix averaged four goals per game and two goals per game so far in 2014 after finishing 2013 averaging 1.71 goals per game.

SERIES HISTORY: Heading into the weekend Western has faced off against Creighton four times in program history and Green Bay 28 times...The Leathernecks last meeting with the Bluejays was in 2007 (Oct. 5) and resulted in a 1-1 double overtime tie...Western last met up with the Phoenix a year ago to the date (Sept. 7, 2013) in Green Bay and fell by a score of 2-1.

LAST TIME OUT: The Purple and Gold come into Friday's game with a 1-1 record after opening their season Aug. 5 at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic hosted by Bradley in Peoria, Ill...WIU's Friday (Aug. 29) opener was a faceoff against the UNLV Rebels resulting in a 2-1 overtime loss...the Leathernecks lone goal came off the foot of freshman forward Armel Kouassi in the 48th minute off of a Ben Fiddes assist...On Sunday (Aug. 31) the Leathernecks wrapped up their opening weekend with a match against the San Jose State Spartans...Western took the game 1-0 with the game winner coming off a Armel Kouassi header, assisted by Fiddes and senior Tyler Chavez...Both Fiddes and Kouassi along with senior goalkeeper Yves Dietrich were named to the All-Tournament Team...senior midfielder Mario Alvarez and sophomore forward Diego Lopez both contributed four shots each on the weekend.

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: It was announced Tuesday (Sept. 2) that senior defender Charlie Bales was named to the nation's top-30 for the Senior CLASS Award...the award is given to one NCAA Division I senior in 10 different sports and honors that individuals' efforts in the classroom, community and on the field as a leader and competitor...Bales' nomination puts him on a list with four returning All-Americans, nine who are the preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy (nations top player in collegiate soccer) and 35 out of 60 (men and women combined) who have a GPA of 3.5 or higher...In 2014 Bales has notched three shots in two games with one going on goal.