The 2024 season of Creighton men’s soccer got underway on a beautiful evening at Morrison Stadium on Thursday night. In front of just 2,300 fans that included a significant number of students, the Bluejays ended up with a 57-43 edge in possession and posted a clean sheet, but couldn’t find the back of the net over 90 minutes of play and had to settle for a 0-0 draw to start the season. Creighton owned a 15-6 advantage in shots while producing eight corner kicks to FAU’s one. Outside of few sequences at the end of the first half and the start of the second, Creighton’s defense was locked in when it came to keep the heat off of redshirt junior goalkeeper Blake Gillingham, who didn’t need to record a single save on the night.
“I thought defensively, we were really good today,” senior center back Mark O’Neill said. “I thought people pressed really well, but we were lacking the quality needed to create the final chances, and a lot of the final balls weren’t there to complete the chances. But still, I feel like if you look at the whole game, we were mostly creating the good chances. Holding them to zero is obviously a positive we will take away from the game for sure.”
After a 15-day preseason that included two exhibition matches and an intrasquad scrimmage, there were understandably some moments that lacked sharpness in the offensive half of the pitch. Connection was sloppy and uncertain at times, and there were several moments of hesitation in the box that could have led to different outcomes based on the advantages that were created. All of it is part of the challenge of ironing out the wrinkles in a college soccer season, but nonetheless frustrating for the players in real time.
“It’s got to click,” Creighton head coach Johnny Torres said. “The movements have to be on. The delivery’s got to be at the right moment. You have to miss the first defender if we get to the end line, so on and so forth. Scoring goals is an art. Scoring goals is not easy, but it’s a beautiful thing when it all comes together and we’re going to get there.”
Despite the lack of scoring punch and settling for a draw with an effort that probably deserved a win, there were some standout performances. In particular from midfielders Lucio Berron and Ramon Torres.
Berron, a senior in his second season with the Jays after transferring in from Coastal Carolina, was a spark plug all over the field. He played the full 90 minutes at a pace not many can replicate and made an impact from box to box helping Creighton control possession and win it back when they lost it.
Lucio Berron has an impact to the game (Williams / WBR)
“Having a guy like Lucio is incredible because he is just running 100% for the entire game,” O’Neill said. “Having a guy who’s able to not only press forward, but also when you’re a defender and you’re running back in your own box, and you see your own midfielder sprinting 100 miles an hour and taking the ball back like that fuels you up and it fires everyone else up. I feel like Lucio does a great job of really setting the example of how much his work rate shows. When a younger guy sees him tracking back 90 yards to make a tackle like he did in the corner, right in front of the box, it just that fires everyone up to do the same.”
Torres, a former legendary player in his own right, looked like he was about to grab his old Creighton kit and some cleats and head to the pitch when asked about Berron after the match. He’s that infectious.
“It’s fun to watch Lucio, man,” Creighton head coach Johnny Torres said. “I call him ‘El Monstruo,’ which means ‘The Beast,’ because he is a beast. He’s everywhere. He wants to break up play. He enjoys it when our team has possession of the ball, and if we don’t have possession of the ball, he’s going to go out there and win the ball back. To be able to see one of our senior students do that, I think, gets everybody else jazzed up to want to do the same. He’s a delight to watch and he’s the heartbeat of our team I believe.”
As for Ramon Torres, the newcomer out of Iowa Western CC, he had numerous moments on the ball in the run of play and with services on a handful of corner kicks that nearly put Creighton on the board. Although the exclamation points never came, he still made quite an impact in his official Bluejay debut.
“I think he’s a guy that can give us a little bit on both sides of the ball,” Torres said. “When I think of Lucio and I think of other defensive players, these are guys that can give you the heart and soul [of your team]. They’re gritty and they’re trying to win the ball back. I think Torres can give you a little bit of that as well, while also being able to go forward and find some seams and combine and produce good deliveries. He’s a guy that I think that can do a lot of good things, that can help us on both sides of the ball.”
Creighton returns to the pitch at Morrison Stadium this Sunday for their second match of the season when they host former Missouri Valley Conference mate Drake at 5:00 p.m. The Bulldogs opened their fall campaign on Thursday night as well, earning a 3-0 home win over NAIA Grand View.