In some ways, two similar teams will face off Friday night in Hoover, Alabama.
Both Creighton and Indiana have leaned on their goalkeepers to reach the College Cup against the odds. Both teams stumbled mid-season, but are peaking at precisely the right time. Both teams, no doubt, have sufficient talent and heart to win both games this weekend.
But when the Bluejays and the Hoosiers take the field, those similarities will mean far less than the differences between them.
One team is coached by a man still caught in his dad’s shadow, now in charge of the juggernaut his father built. The other team is coached by an absolute wizard, a legend of the college game, who has appeared in the last six College Cups with two programs.
The behemoth public university from Bloomington is making its first College Cup in eight seasons, despite its continuing reputation as the premier men’s soccer dynasty in college sports. The scrappy Catholic school from Omaha is making its second consecutive appearance in the College Cup, crashing the party in what ought to have been a rebuilding year.
Both teams rode their hot goalkeepers right into the semifinal game. Theirs is a senior. Ours is a freshman.
The differences abound between Creighton and Indiana, and they’ll be on full display this Friday night. The Hoosiers’ offense comes almost exclusively from a duo unparalleled anywhere in America: senior forward Eriq Zavaleta and senior midfielder Nikita Kotlov. Those two have scored twenty-six of Indiana’s thirty-nine goals this season, and at least one of them has scored in four of IU’s last six matches. Junior midfielder AJ Corrado leads the team in assists, with twelve of the team’s thirty-two.
Zavaleta, for his part, is fifth in the nation in goals per game and has racked up a shooting percentage of 20.2%. Soccer is not generally a game of percentages, but when a man scores once in every five shots heads are bound to turn.
It is for this reason that Creighton and their supporters should breathe a sigh of relief that José Ribas (and, it appears, Eric Miller) will both reclaim their spots on the Bluejays’ back line for Friday’s match. Ribas, suspended one game for a red-card earned in the Sweet Sixteen against Akron was replaced by the brilliant Benito Amaral in Sunday’s match at UConn. But not even Amaral, capable as he is, could replace Ribas’ poise and intelligence at the left back position.
The Indiana attack has proven dangerous to tournament opponents, with IU earning upsets over 1-seed Notre Dame and 9-seed North Carolina to arrive in the College Cup. They may not stand a chance against the high-powered Creighton attack, however. The Jays’ offense has peaked late in the season, tallying thirteen goals from seven different players in the last six games. The Bluejays will need to continue their offensive production, using their superior speed and technical ability to foil junior midfielder Jacob Bushue.
Bushue, called “Bushue the Bruiser” by some Hoosier fans, appears to be by far the most aggressive and intimidating of the Indiana defense. Tactically, he will play a defensive midfield role and serve to break up play, not unlike Zach Barnes’ role for the Bluejays. No question, the match-up to watch will be Creighton’s Choco Gomez vs. “Bushue the Bruiser,” who will likely try to deny Gomez the time and space to operate with the ball in the final third of the Jays’ attack.
When the Bluejays leave Bushue in the dust, they’ll still have to face the Indiana back-four, anchored in the center by senior Caleb Konstanski. Konstanski, a hometown product for the Hoosiers, has been a rock along the back line this season. Konstanski has spent four years in front of senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner, who has overcome some chronic, early-career timidity in the net and is now a top college ‘keeper and a legitimate MLS prospect. They have worked together to earn a season goals against average (GAA) of 0.78, one one-hundredth of a point ahead of Creighton’s 0.79 ranking.
The difference between Bloomington and Birmingham is only seven hours, so you can count on busloads of the fabled “Hoosier Army” coming to support their team and make it a third-straight away game for the Bluejays.
As we ought to expect from a College Cup team (though did not last year against Charlotte), Indiana has the pieces to put together a championship run. This game is doubtless going to be a tough one for Creighton to win, but certainly no more difficult than away games at Akron or Connecticut. Count on coaches Bolowich and Torres to engineer a dynamic attack that will profit from Indiana’s lack of speed and size on their back line.
I’m predicting a 2-1 Creighton win, sending the Blues to their first national championship since 2000. Check back tomorrow to find out who I think they’ll face.