Creighton claims Big East regular-season crown

OMAHA, Neb. -- Sixth-ranked Creighton blanked No. 19 Providence 3-0 on Senior Night at Morrison Stadium on Friday evening.

Creighton received goals from senior Sean Kim and junior Vincent Keller – their first tallies of the season – as well as sophomore Ricardo Perez.

With the victory Creighton (14-2-2, 7-1-1 Big East) wins the Big East regular season crown outright and will be the No. 1 seed in the six-team conference tournament. It marks the first Big East men's soccer championship for the Bluejays and second Big East title overall in school history (baseball 2014).

Following the setback Providence (10-4-2, 5-2-2 Big East) will be the four seed and will host fifth-seeded Villanova on Tuesday for the right to a rematch with the Bluejays next Friday in a conference semifinal at PPL Park in suburban Philadelphia.

Kim opened the scoring in the second minute to register his first goal of the year and put Creighton up 1-0 early. After a deflection the senior headed the ball and directed it into the net.

Junior co-captain Vincent Keller later scored his first goal of the year in the 34th minute to make it 2-0. Sophomore Fabian Herbers assisted on the score.

CU held that lead into halftime while blanking its 17th opponent of the season in the first half.

In the 80th minute, sophomore Ricardo Perez put in the Jays’ third goal on an assist from junior Timo Pitter. It marked Perez’ third goal of 2014.

Junior Connor Sparrow played 85 minutes in net while making four saves for Creighton and improved to 14-2-2 on the year. Senior Alex Bolowich finished out the final minutes of action in his final regular season match as a Bluejay.

Creighton receives a bye into the Big East Semifinals as the No. 1 seed. The Bluejays will face the winner of No. 4 seed Providence and No. 5 seed Villanova on Friday, Nov. 14 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Related:
• Conference Championship Central