Saturday marks Senior Day for the Creighton men’s soccer team. The Bluejays (8-6-2, 3-3-1 Big East) host DePaul at 4 p.m. CT at Morrison Stadium. October proved to be a frustrating and challenging month for the Jays, who started the month No. 4 in the nation but posted a 3-5 record and fell out of the NSCAA poll for the first time since the 2010 preseason.
WBR caught up with CU head coach Elmar Bolowich to discuss his team’s recent non-conference win over familiar Drake and what lies ahead for his team as the Big East season wraps up ahead of the conference tournament.
WBR: Creighton faced off against former Valley foe Drake this week, what were you able to get out of that game besides the 2-0 win?
EB: It was a game that allowed us to get back to what we need to do to win and to regroup. I thought our defense was tighter and we were able to control the game from the start. We had a bunch of opportunities offensively and we played a cleaner game.
WBR: With the losses recently, is there a fix that needs to be made or is it a matter of execution?
EB: It was a combination of not finishing and allowing a few sloppy goals. For some reason or another, we couldn’t finish up top, and as I have mentioned before, that puts more pressure on your defense. Also, things just haven’t gone our way either. Michigan scored on an ugly goal, and we also allowed 2 goals against Michigan State on long throws that were really ugly. We need to clean up a lot of things and get back to possessing the game and finishing.
WBR: Do you see any changes in your lineup or formations moving forward?
EB: I don’t really mess things up during the season too much as then it causes confusion and you are constantly second guessing yourself. We simply need to play the way we know we can and get back to controlling to games. We need to do what we do, just better.
WBR: At this point, is some of the issue mental?
EB: It can get to that point. We play where expectations are always sky high. When you have that on you every game it can start making the guys think too much and lose focus. We need to focus on being the better team on that day, be in control.
WBR: Any thoughts on DePaul?
EB: We played them two years ago and they gave us a very tough game. I think we won on a set piece in double overtime. Besides getting beat pretty good by Georgetown, they have played pretty well this year. They are out of the running for post season, so they could throw a lot of different things at us. When a team is not playing for anything, you never know what they will come at you with.
