Lightning and inclement weather interrupted action between third-ranked Creighton and 13th-ranked U.C. Irvine on Sunday night at Morrison Stadium. Unfortunately for the visiting Anteaters the only thing the weather actually delayed was the inevitable.
Junior forward Fabian Herbers and junior midfielder Myles Englis each scored a goal within the first ten minutes of the opening half to give the Bluejays men’s soccer team (4-0-0) a 2-0 lead before lightning brought a halt to the match with 18:46 remaining in the period.
“The beginning was a little bit slow, I think the two early goals helped us to manage the game,” Herbers said. “We had a game on Friday, they did too, and we were both a little bit tired I felt. The two goals helped us and kept us through the game.
“We were feeling it a little bit. The energy was not there at the warm-up like it used to be, because we are a little bit fatigued, but we told ourselves let’s get an early goal, because that will ease the game a lot for us. Luckily we managed that. We got two goals, so it was a comfortable lead. We could keep the ball and we didn’t have too much pressure anymore.”
Of course that didn’t stop Creighton from attacking the U.C. Irvine back line and trying to extend the lead. A sequence of physical play on the Anteaters half of the field resulted in a Creighton penalty kick opportunity with 1:24 remaining in the first half. Herbers lined up to take the kick and he easily slotted it into the back of the net going to his right.
See photos of the game from WBR photographer Brad Williams
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Senior midfielder Timo Pitter capped off the evening with a goal in the 52nd minute on a setup from Herbers to make it 4-0. The Anteaters had a couple of chances, but ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net on anything. They finished with just three shots on goal in 90 minutes compared to nine attempts for the Creighton attack.
Englis, who missed the entire 2014 season due to injury, followed up his game-winning goal performance on Friday against Cal State Northridge with a goal and an assist. Both helped Creighton build the 2-0 lead.
“I’m really happy for him right now. He has definitely made strides,” Creighton head coach Elmar Bolowich. ” I think the year off where he had to watch on the outside, it made him realize how desperately he wanted to be in there, and that he needed to everything he could to get into the lineup and get on the field. He worked for it and he earned it. He now reaps the benefits.”
Englis’ strong weekend along with several other strong starts to the weekend allowed Bolowich a moment of relief as he was concerned with his team’s dependence on one or two players to carry the load for the attack like they had to towards the end of last season.
“It’s also that the opponents cannot only hone in on one guy,” Bolowich said. “That’s also key, because if you can only hone in on one guy you can actually neutralize the opposing team by doing that. If they just hone in on Fabian, they get stung by Myles, they get stung by Timo, they get stung by Ricky, so we have still capable attacking players of top quality that can hurt other teams.”
The players have not forgotten how last season ended and they know that they need all, or at least most, of their main attacking players to be in top form in order to have the kind of season they want to have in 2015.
“I think that’s the biggest difference to last year,” Herbers said of the offensive balance. “Last year we had a lot of injuries and we were dependent on two or three players up front. Now we have more depth and can make substitutions and the level of the game doesn’t drop necessarily, so that’s good. If people keep scoring that’s only good for the team, because we have competition within the team, so everybody wants to do his best. It’s just positive.”
Englis attributes his early-season success to a new wrinkle he added to his preparation in the offseason.
“A lot of this sport is mental,” the junior from Rome, Georgia said. “I work hard, I train every day, I do all of that, but I focused a little bit more on the mental side as well, and I think that has really paid dividends. I think I just add another weapon. We got Fabian, Ricky, Timo, and more guys, and I think I’m just another weapon that will offset other teams.
“If you look at all of the attacking players we have on this team it’s pretty special.”
With an undefeated start and some losses ahead of them in the polls, the Bluejays ascended to the top spot in the rankings (Brad Williams)
The Bluejays will have a week to prepare for the lone game next weekend at nationally-ranked Michigan State (2-1-0). They will take on the Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan at 1 p.m. (CST) on Saturday. Creighton and Michigan State have met just one other time, back in 2013 in a regular-season match that ended in a 2-2 tie at Morrison Stadium.
Given Creighton’s No. 3 national ranking in the coaches poll, and the results that occurred among teams ranked above or below the Bluejays, the Bluejays moved to the #1 team in the country and will be that team when they kick off against the Spartans. How that plays out, however, is of little concern to Creighton’s fifth-year head coach. He has his eye on a different ranking at this point in the season.
“The top dog is always the one you want to knock down,” Bolowich said of his team potentially becoming the No. 1 ranked team before the new poll was released on Monday “Our next game is at Michigan State, and they are a legitimate title contender as well. They are going to be up for us. It doesn’t matter what our ranking will be — one, two, three, four, five, who cares? It will just be another tough test for us. We cannot even look at rankings at the moment. It’s way too early in the season. The only ranking that actually matters to me is the R.P.I. rating, because that’s really what matters in terms of seeding, in terms of playoff contention, so that’s the only ranking I’m looking at.”
Listen to Postgame interviews with Head Coach Elmar Bolowich, Fabian Herbers, and Myles Englis