Evan Waldrep (#8) scored his first goal as a Bluejay Tuesday night and now heads off to play for the United States U-20 National Team. (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Creighton true freshman midfielder Evan Waldrep scored the first goal of his collegiate career on Tuesday night in the top-ranked Bluejays’ 4-0 home win over Missouri State.
Turns out it will be a few weeks before Waldrep gets a chance to score his second. According to Creighton head coach Elmar Bolowich, the 18-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona will miss Creighton’s next five matches after getting called up to play with the United States Under-20 Men’s National Team in a tournament that will take place in Germany over the next couple of weeks.
The young Bluejay midfielder has previous experience with the United States Under-16 and Under-18 national teams, and although the Bluejays are in the middle of what has so far been a strong season, Bolowich acknowledges that you can’t hold back a player from having the opportunity to play for his home country.
“How can you deny them playing for their country and going on a foreign trip?” Bolowich said. “That’s something that any young kid would look forward to, and you cannot deprive them of that, and tell them they’ve got to stay home.”
While it wasn’t made public until after the match on Tuesday night, Waldrep has known for a few weeks that he would be leaving his Creighton teammates for a short stint with the U-20’s.
“After practice a couple weeks ago, Coach Bolowich talked to me and said there’s a chance that I could go to Germany with the U-20’s and play in an international tournament there,” Waldrep said. “The next morning he got the official e-mail that said I was invited, and Coach Bolowich was able to release me.”
In Germany, Waldrep and his teammates from the United States will play against national teams from Germany, Scotland, and Mexico.
“It’s definitely a privilege,” Waldrep said. “I’m very excited and honored to get the call-up. Every day at practice I’m just training hard and trying to work as hard as I can so I’ll be ready for that, and prepare for that as best as I can.”
If confidence has anything to do with how the young Bluejay will approach the opportunity, getting his first collegiate goal in his last match before the trip should certainly provide a boost to that. Waldrep had played a total of 71 minutes in two matches prior to Tuesday. That’s of course due to the experience and depth that Creighton has on it’s 2015 roster, particularly in the midfield area where Evan is competing against several more seasoned players every day in training.
“Evan is a very good player as you can see,” Bolowich said. “He’s very comfortable on the ball, good technically, he moves well, and he understands our system. The problem with Evan is that we have so many players that play his position that are upperclassmen, so he’s a little bit caught in the density of our player pool to maybe not get more minutes.”
As a coach dealing with a talented young player in that situation, Bolowich tries to guide them through it and make sure they are staying ready in case their number is called upon.
“You just tell him to be patient,” the Creighton coach said. “Look for your opportunities, don’t let your guard down, don’t lower your standard, work hard in practices, and try to become a better player. That’s just the nature of it.”
Waldrep scored Creighton’s 4th goal on Tuesday night against Missouri State (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Waldrep made the most of his opportunity against Missouri State. He checked into the match at the 29:27 mark of the first half, and scored his first career goal one minute and 27 seconds later.
With the Bluejays already leading by three goals, senior midfielder Timo Pitter gained possession inside the 18-yard box along the right flank. Just as two Missouri State defenders converged on him, he found Waldrep wide open to the right of the semi-circle. The Bluejay rookie didn’t hesitate as the pass moved towards him. He met it with his right foot, striking the ball off of a defender and watching it redirect into the net.
It gave Creighton a commanding 4-0 lead, and provided Waldrep that unforgettable memory of scoring his first goal at the collegiate level.
“I was calling for the ball and got a great pass from Timo,” the 5-foot-11 midfielder said. “I just wanted to take a good shot. I was happy that I got to score my first goal with Creighton, and it’s a memory that I will never forget.”
Over the next five matches, Creighton will play DePaul, Drake, and St. John’s at home, then hit the road to play Butler and Marquette. The decision to accept the invitation with the national team was not only a difficult one because of the time he’ll have to be away from the team, but also because of what he’ll miss in the class room.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” Waldrep said. “I went last semester to Mexico for two weeks with the U-18 national team, and I had to catch on so much school work, and really had to catch up [on the field] when I got back.”
But, as his coach said, getting to play with and compete against some of the best players in world is an opportunity, much like the one he’s trying to earn at Creighton, that you have to make the most of when it presents itself.
“It’s going to be a great experience playing against current pros and future pros, and playing with pros that are from America and are the best players in the U.S. It’s an honor to play with them,” Waldrep said.
“I think the opportunity is going to be great for me. Not only soccer-wise, but it’s been a while since I’ve been called up to the national team, so catching up with everyone, and training with the players will really boost my confidence and help me really focus and tune in more. When I come back here I’ll be even more focused than I am now.”