Tonight marks the annual kick-off to the Creighton Men’s Soccer season with the blue/white intra-squad scrimmage. The blue and white teams will more than likely consist of the starters versus the reserves. Last years contest was a highly competitive match that saw the Creighton starters narrowly defeat the back-ups. That scrimmage foreshadowed not only the tremendous depth of talent the 2011 Jays possessed, but also signaled the key players who will need to step up this year following the loss of 7 starters. Last year I was extremely impressed with what I saw from freshmen JT Seger, Jeff Gal, Christian Blandon, Eric Miller and Jose Ribas as well as transfer Jake Brown. Miller, Ribas and Brown had large roles in the College Cup appearance, yet Seger, Blandon and Gal were all seen as a surplus of talent.
This spring season saw the emergence of players like Blandon, who played both up top and out wide, which is comparable to a similar role that Ethan Finlay provided throughout his career on the Hilltop. Look for Blandon to be a key member of this years attack. Like Blandon, goalkeeper Jeff Gal had an excellent spring into summer. Gal dominated in net splitting time with fellow goalkeeping studs Taylor Reeves and Alex Bolowich. But it was Gal who separated from the pack and should claim the starting role heading into 2012. Seger, who saw a few minutes in 2011 at midfield and defense, looked tidy and composed beyond his age. Unfortunately, Seger suffered an injury during this past spring which limited his involvement in a team that could have surely used him.
My Line-up Predictions:
1st squad
——————Gal——————
–Miller–Brown–Kallman–Amaral-
—————Ribeiro—————–
—-Ribas—-Barnes—-Castro——–
———–Gomez————————
—————–McCrary—————-
*The Addition of Zach Barnes puts Andrew Ribeiro in a more important role as defensive midfielder. Ribs stood-out last season in this role next to All-American Greg Jordan, yet this season Barnes will be placed in a more advanced ‘Box-to-Box’ position, leaving much more responsibility to Ribeiro. Kallman and Brown, could possibly replace stalwarts Jace Peters and Andrew Duran, and while those are big shoes to fill Brown and Kallman are more than capable. Gomez will be allowed to float in the middle of the pitch, again connecting the play to the forward line which now includes transfer Carlos McCrary. McCrary is extremely talented up front at scoring as evidenced by his 17 goals this summer on his way to NPSL 2012 Player Of The Year honors.*
2nd squad
—————-Shams——————-
–Keller—Hines-Ike–DeJulio—Moyo-
—————-Seger——————–
—-Englis—–Makh—-Garbin——-
——Blandon——-O’Lochlayne——
*In particular I hope to see true freshman pairing of Hines-Ike & DeJulio, who both come to Creighton highly recruited and club captains of Chivass 18U and Sporting KC 18U respectively. Also, I’m hoping to get a glimpse of the skilled English Juco All American Jagdeep ‘Sonny’ Makh who could see plenty of time with the first squad as could the aforementioned Blandon.*
Some experts will contest that this is going to be a reloading year for the Jays, who face a much tougher schedule than last year. However, this team has all the talent, leadership and coaching to reach the lofty expectations that were set at this time last year, and it all starts TODAY.
–UPDATE–
Blue Team:
—————–Bolowich——————–
–Keller—DeJulio—Pulverenti—Miller–
——————-Ribeiro———————
——-Ribas——Barnes———-Castro—-
—————–Gomez————————-
——————————Englis————–
*Top standouts from team Blue included Gomez, Ribeiro, Bolowich and new boys Vincent Keller and Myles Englis. German freshman Vincent Keller (#4) made well timed challenges and was quick in transitioning defense to offense. Keller worked well with KC freshman Eric DeJulio who marshalled the blue back four the entire game. Quite possibly the most interesting aspect of the scrimmage was the staffs move of freshman All-American right back & US youth international Eric Miller to the left back spot. Miller worked well at times behind fellow returning starter Bruno Castro, and if Miller’s move is successful, Bolowich might have proven to make this trouble area now a strength for the team. Ribeiro was again solid and paired well with SMU transfer Zach Barnes (#12) who seemed to be playing as hard in the 90th minute as he was in the 1st. Another bright spot was true freshman Myles Englis (#16) who played in the Ethan Finlay role alone up top. Englis possess blazing speed and has the type of confidence you want from a striker.*
White Team:
———————Gal——————–
–Amaral—Kallman—Brown—-Garbin–
—————–Ciambella——————-
—Makh———-Pitter———Kim——–
———Blandon—————————–
——————McCrary———————
*The White team seemed to possess the majority of the starting defense minus Eric Miller, and thus had a hard time controlling the ball. Kallman and Brown (#25) are as physically dominate a pair of centerbacks as any in collegiate soccer. Kallman, Brown and Amaral did well to disrupt the talented Blue offensive unit. Redshirt freshman Christian Blandon (#20) continued his impressive spring form as the obvious danger man for the White team. Blandon should challenge for large role in this years attack, especially after his performance on Sunday. Juco transfers Sonny Makh (#11) and Benito Amaral combined well throughout the match with Makh in particular possessing the deft touch and playmaking abilities that could prove useful in the Valley this Fall. Unfortunately for most Jays fans, powerful UNC transfer Carlos McCrary (#14) did not get much service and was unable to provide a glimpse of his NPSL Player of the Year form which saw him net 17 goals this summer before joining up with the team.*
Quick Hits:
– Dorian O’Lochlayne was not on the roster. Nor was backup goalkeeper Taylor Reeves
– Bummed not to see stud freshman goalkeeper Oshick Shams in goal
– Overall impressions of new Blue uniforms were positive from many people I talked with
– Hope new field turf played as good as it looked
– Decent crowd, I know upcoming games versus Maryland, UNO and Akron will shatter that number
– Surprise freshman addition Timo Pitter played well in the middle of the field
– Glad they put the Creighton seal on the White jerseys too
CU Friday!
J
