The first match of Big East conference play at Morrison Stadium had everything one would come to expect — and even a moment or two that you wouldn’t — out of one of the top conferences in college soccer.
There were 38 combined fouls, 24 combined shots, seven combined yellow cards, and even a head coach being sent off with just under 10 minutes remaining in the second half. In the end, Creighton emerged with the coveted three points after redshirt freshman center Brian Edelman redirected a Miguel Arilla free kick off the post in the 81st minute to earn the 1-0 win over Marquette on Friday night.
The Bluejays improved to 4-2-2 on the season, completing their three-week long homestand by pitching a fourth shutout in a span of five matches.
“One of the things that we talk about with our guys is let’s control the controllables,” Creighton head coach Johnny Torres said. “We can’t control the weather, we can’t control the ref, we can’t control the wind, right? So, let’s focus on what we can control, and that’s us and what we’re trying to do. My hats off to our guys for staying in the game, staying on route and being able to play through some uncomfortable moments tonight.”
Those uncomfortable moments, as Torres dubbed them, came in the form of rhythm-stopping whistles and inconsistent adjudication of fouls that had both sides of the center line at a boiling point. The water finally spilled over the pot for Torres when he decided to let out his frustrations on referee Esad Omanovic with 9:33 left to play in what, at the time, was still a scoreless match.
Omanovic issued the former M.A.C. Hermann Trophy winner a yellow card after an initial outburst. That only further incensed Torres, who continued with his pointed criticisms of the officiating while being walled off by alternate official Shane LaBenz. A few seconds later, Torres was booked again and ejected from the remainder of the match.
“I know refereeing is hard,” Torres told the media during his post-match press conference. “It’s not easy, and we’re all human. It’s just tough when there are inconsistencies, right? I think that’s maybe what Coach Korn for Marquette and for us, you know, I just felt like there were some inconsistencies going on. If you’re a referee, officiate the game. You don’t have to be the protagonist. You don’t have to involve yourself in every single play.”
After watching their head coach get escorted down the sideline and up the Morrison Stadium concourse by a school official, Creighton’s players channeled the heightened tension appropriately.
“It fired us up,” Edelman said of Torres’ ejection. “It definitely motivated us and pushed us to win the game for him.”
Forty-one seconds later, the Bluejays did just that. They got right back on the ball and pressed into Marquette’s defensive third. After drawing a foul just outside the 18-yard box, junior midfielder Miguel Arilla banged the ensuing set piece off the near post. Edelman followed the shot into the 6-yard box and slotted it into the back of the net for the game-winning goal.
Brian Edelman with the GOOOOOAAALLLL!
Bluejays take the lead!
81′ | Creighton 1, Marquette 0#GoJays pic.twitter.com/fCvTPumr9n
— Creighton Men’s Soccer (@creightonmsoc) September 20, 2025
“I just tried to put it over the wall and score it,” Arilla said. “If the goalkeeper saves it, or it hits the post, that’s why we have teammates ready to get the rebound and score it. That’s what we practice every day.”
Miguel Arilla shares his postgame thoughts. (H/T ESPN+)#GoJays pic.twitter.com/jo9vy301op
— Creighton Men’s Soccer (@creightonmsoc) September 20, 2025
While the Bluejays were pushing on for that game-changing moment in the attacking third, they were once again shutting everything down when Marquette did possess the ball in their defensive half of the field.
The biggest play of the match, prior to Arilla and Edelman’s heroics, came in the 77th minute. That’s when Creighton’s redshirt freshman goalkeeper Matthew Hudson pulled off an outstanding diving save towards his back post to keep the match knotted at zeroes late into the second half.
Matthew Hudson keeps it even! #GoJays pic.twitter.com/5U60oWpcnZ
— Creighton Men’s Soccer (@creightonmsoc) September 20, 2025
Hudson joined Paul Kruse on Friday night as the only freshmen in the history of the program to produce at least four clean sheets in their first five starts in goal at Morrison Stadium. From Torres’ vantage point just on the other side of the center line, he still isn’t quite sure how ‘Huddy’ made the play he did with 13:46 to go.
“I was surprised that he saw it, to be honest with you,” Torres said. “From my angle, I thought he was screened. The fact that he was able to get to that shot was tremendous. We always say this about the goalkeepers — if you have a goalkeeper that’s going to make the saves he’s supposed to make and make one or two that he’s not supposed to make, it’s probably going to be a good day for you. I thought on that one, it was probably one that he wasn’t supposed to make, but he made it.”
That moment of brilliance aside, Hudson didn’t need to stand on his head in this one to earn the shutout. That’s because Creighton fought, scratched, and clawed anytime a Marquette attacker even sniffed an opportunity on goal. Torres highlighted the play of veteran wing backs Matthew Reed and Ryusei Shimonishi as a critical component of helping the Jays improve to 4-0-1 at home this fall.
“Defensively. I thought we were pretty darn good tonight, particularly regarding our back tackling,” Torres said. “I thought overall, as a team, we did a good job to back tackle and swarm the ball. Especially in that first half, I thought Matthew Reed and Shimo did an exceptional job on the wings to be able to back tackle with their wingers that were very dangerous.”
The three points Creighton earned with the win gives them the early lead atop the Big East’s Midwest Division as Akron and Butler both lost along with the Golden Eagles, while DePaul and Xavier played to 1-1 draws against Villanova and St. John’s, respectively.
The Bluejays have the week off and will next take the pitch at Wish Field in Chicago, Illinois when the take on the Blue Demons (2-1-5, 0-0-1) on Saturday, September 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Creighton-Marquette Highlights / Post-Match Press Conference