The Creighton men’s soccer team is fresh off a sweep of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships. Once again, the Bluejays are in the NCAA Tournament. And yet again, the Jays will host a home match at Morrison Stadium.
Twelfth-seeded Creighton will host Washington Sunday at 5:00 p.m., following the Huskies’ 1-0 win over Air Force in the first round of the tournament. U-Dub is coached by Jamie Clark; CU fans may be familiar with his one-year stint as head coach on the Hilltop a few years ago.
Ahead of this weekend’s tournament match, we caught up with Creighton’s Elmar Bolowich to talk about winning the league tournament and preparing for soccer’s version of the Big Dance.
WBR: Since we last talked, you and the guys have been busy winning a second straight MVC Tournament. Talk a bit about the game on Sunday in those awful conditions.
EB: Those conditions were awful. I don’t know what I would have done if SIUE was able to put one in late. And, it was too bad. That was a good match up and I actually thought SIUE had the better of us at times.
WBR: How surprised were you that SIUE did not make the tournament?
EB: I was surprised but then I was not. When it comes down to the last few teams that will be selected, the committee looks at RPI, obviously, but then they look at your good wins and your bad losses. SIUE did not have that win that stuck out and put them over the top.
WBR: Creighton will be welcoming a former coach in Jamie Clark on Sunday as he brings the Huskies of Washington into town. What do you know about Clark and Washington? What can we expect on Sunday?
EB: Well, Jamie actually played for me for two years at UNC before transferring to Stanford to play for his Dad. In regards to his style of play and what he will bring in with Washington, he will come out and play. They have a good long thrower that they use on every throw in that gives them that ability to use it as a set piece. They will not sit back and play conservative; they will want to play with us most likely. They will be well organized and should be an entertaining game. Also, the weather should be great! Low 60’s and not a lot of wind.
WBR: Your team seems to be clicking right now. How is the overall morale of the team going into tournament play?
EB: With the wins last weekend, the guys are feeling pretty good. We feel like we are in a good place right now and the guys understand their assignments. We are able to focus on fixing the little things now. Plus, we are all healthy, which is great for this part of the season.
WBR: With you having such a young team, how important have the seniors been in regards to motivation these guys and sharing the experience they had making the College Cup last year?
EB: When the year started they were a bit in limbo. It seemed like they underperformed and were unsure of their role. Maybe it was because of the huge expectations people had on them coming into this year and they were not quite ready for that, but things have switched. It seems that in the past weeks, the seniors have really stepped up both in play and vocally and the underclassmen have sort of hit a wall. Honestly, that is what you want right now. The seniors are hungry and they understand that it will be harder this year than it was last year. If we can take care of business on Sunday and Akron also wins, we will have to go up to Akron and play. Akron is not an easy place to play and we have a tough road ahead of us.
