The Creighton men’s soccer team earned a first-round bye in the Mountain Valley Conference Tournament with a 1-0 win over the Missouri State Bears on senior day.  The win capped off an October in which the Jays went undefeated.

The Jays came out looking to strike quickly on Saturday, keeping the ball near the Missouri State goal for the majority of the first half.  In the 19th minute freshman midfielder Timo Pitter capitalized on a pass from freshman defender/midfielder Vincent Keller, scoring on a crossing shot from short distance to give the Jays a 1-0 lead.  The goal was Pitter’s team-leading seventh of the season.

The Jays continued their aggressive style of play in the second half, but were unable to build on their lead.  In the 62nd minute junior forward Sean Kim made an aggressive effort for the ball, blocking a kick from the Bears goalkeeper and sailing it just over the top of the net.  In the 85th minute Timo Pitter narrowly missed out on his second goal of the game, sailing a shot from 30 yards away just over the top of the net.  In the 87th minute Vincent Keller had a shot bounce off the post.

In the final five minutes of the game the Jays’ defense stood strong and did not allow Missouri State to tie the game.  Freshman goalkeeper Jeff Gal batted away a Missouri State corner kick in the 86th minute, and junior midfielder Zach Barnes knocked down a free kick in front of the Jays’ goal with less than a minute to play, sealing the victory for Creighton

“I think we have to be pretty confident,” head coach Elmar Bolowich said about the upcoming MVC Tournament. “We are undefeated in the conference so far.  I think we earned ourselves a first round bye with a win today, so we don’t have to play on a Wednesday.  We do play a team that has to play on Wednesday, so there is a little bit of a fatigue factor on the opposition, so we are looking pretty okay right now as it pertains to conference.”

The Jays’ next game is against the University of Evansville Purple Aces on Saturday in Evansville.  The Purple Aces are 9-6-1 this year.  The MVC tournament will start on Wednesday in Peoria, Ill.