TU Men's Soccer Upsets No. 11 Creighton

Tulsa's Cristian Mata has been a star for the Golden Hurricane men's soccer team all season but on Tuesday night he had maybe his best performance to date.

Mata put two goals into the back of the net to give Tulsa a 2-0 victory against 11th-ranked Creighton at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium.

With the victory, TU moved to 6-3 on the season, while the Bluejays fell to 5-3-1 overall. This was TU's second win on the year over a top-11 ranked opponent as the Hurricane earned a 2-1 victory over No. 3 New Mexico on Aug. 31.

"I thought we played a very good team in the mid-field," coach Tom McIntosh said. "They are a very dynamic group of players in their front six guys, so we were going to have to be good in the back. I thought our organization was good in the back, our possession was good in the back, and I thought we did a good job connecting off our strikers and creating chances. In the second half we got better wide play, which was what we wanted to do."

Mata scored his first goal at the 55:17 mark as Bryce Follensbee fed him the ball up the middle and he punched it in from 10 yards out. His second goal came in the 85th minute as he scored from 15 yards out off a flicked ball from Kyle Cumings.

Mata has attempted 22 shots this season, 14 of which were on goal and eight of them were goals, including four game-winners to lead Tulsa with 17 points. 

Mata and Akeil Barrett each had three attempts, while Follensbee added two shots. Mark Pais logged all 90 minutes in goal, recorded five saves and earned his fourth shutout on the year.

Creighton had an 11-9 lead in shots, while both teams had five shots on goal, and the Bluejays had a 9-4 lead in corner kicks.

Tulsa will return to action on Saturday against Marshall at 7 p.m. at the Hurricane Stadium.