It’s not every day you get to see a Creighton team ranked first in the nation, so there was no question I’d make the trip to Norfolk, Virginia, this weekend to watch the Bluejays men’s soccer team take on William & Mary.
Norfolk, pronounced Nor-fick or Naw-fk but certainly not Nor-fork, is only navigable by car thanks to a long and complicated series of tunnels and bridges. I learned the hard way that the city closes a couple of these on weekends, leaving unsuspecting visitors to fend for themselves in standstill traffic.
After finally breaking free, I headed west on I-64 to William & Mary’s campus, only an hour away. I’m told it’s almost a campus-wide competition to care the least about William & Mary sports, so I was surprised to overhear a student on her phone discussing the game. “They just beat the number one team,” she chirped to a friend. “Cry-ton . . . wherever that is.”
These two occasions, and not the Jays’ loss, were the biggest annoyances of the weekend. When the sting of defeat wears off, Creighton can look back on Sunday’s result and be proud of their play.
The first half saw the Bluejays absolutely dominate in possession. I didn’t keep a clock, but I’d venture to say Creighton controlled the ball for about 65% of the first half. There were stretches of five or six minutes when the Tribe didn’t even touch the ball. The Jays looked composed and dangerous, while W&M seemed increasingly frustrated. Kudos to Bruno Castro and Timo Pitter, whose energy and composure in the midfield totally baffled William & Mary for most of the game.
Creighton’s Bruno Castro played well, but the Bluejays couldn’t escape with a 2OT win (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY PHOTO
So much of Creighton’s success was due to the play of Jose Ribas and Benito Amaral, CU’s left and right defenders, respectively. In Creighton’s system, it’s so important for these two positions to be capable of moving up and joining the Bluejay attack. When they do, it gives the midfield players freedom to move more aggressively on offense, or to go full-throttle when applying defensive pressure. Ribas is having a breakout year, and it showed in this game.
Of course, this all counts for very little when you can’t score. Creighton squandered chance after chance, most memorably when Sean Kim failed to convert a 1-on-1 play with the goalkeeper toward the end of regulation. Marvin Iskra and Fabian Herbers, both freshmen, showed some real craftiness and sliced by the W&M defense with relative ease. More than usual, the Jays were hesitant to shoot at their first decent opportunity, opting instead to find the perfect shot or pass, and often turning over the ball in the process.
Finally, I think Alex Bolowich deserves some real credit for his play in this game. Bolowich made a number of tough saves to keep the Jays in the game when his defense left him out to dry. In the end, the 3-4-3 formation that William & Mary deployed for overtime was too much to handle for a Bluejay defense that looked shaky and tired all game.
The White and Blue controlled the run of play for the better part of this game, but the underdog showed grit and perseverance, and walked away with a big win newly under their belts. It was exactly the type of match every sports fan loves to watch. I just hope Creighton’s bus didn’t have to sit in traffic on their way out.
(You can watch a highlight film via TribeAthletics.com, but it only shows W&M shots and goals. Irritating, but it’s something.)