As the Creighton men’s soccer team and its fans gathered at the Old Mattress Factory for Monday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show, the excitement and nervousness emanating from the players, coaches, and administrators was palpable. Would Creighton get a bye? Would the Bluejays host a home game? Would a top-20 RPI outweigh disappointing losses and draws down the stretch of CU’s season?
“I told the guys before the selection show that they should be ready for anything,” Creighton head coach Jamie Clark told White & Blue Review. “We played a good schedule this year, but we had a few hiccups at the end.
“I was pretty confident we’d be in the field, but I just wasn’t sure how high or low.”
He didn’t have to wait long to learn that the Bluejays would play New Mexico in the first round Thursday, November 18. One year removed from missing the NCAA Tournament for what seemed like the first time in eternity, the first-year head coach Clark had the Bluejays back in collegiate soccer’s big dance. And Creighton’s return to the tournament will mark a return for Clark and assistant coach Jeff Rowland to a program with which they are very familiar.
Clark spent four seasons as an assistant with the Lobos, while Rowland is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the New Mexico program. “I know this team very well,” Rowland said. “Shoot, I was helping them with summer camps right before I came to Omaha. They have a great staff over there, and it will be fun to play them.”
Clark said that while playing New Mexico will be exciting, familiarity doesn’t offer much advantage at this point. “It will be a fun reunion, but I don’t think there will be any real advantage in the matchup. The biggest advantage we will have is the fact we will be able to play in front of our home fans.
“New Mexico will be the toughest team we will play when you look at our potential first three matchups. We need to focus on New Mexico and take care of business on Thursday. I know it sounds a bit cliché, but in the tournament, you really need to take it one game at a time.”
But it is hard to not look ahead to a possible second round date with Southern Methodist, as the Mustangs beat Creighton on a neutral field earlier this season.
“We want SMU,” Valley Player of the Year Ethan Finlay said. “That is a game we feel like we could have won. We know we need to focus on New Mexico, and we will. We are really disappointed after how Senior Night went and the disappointment in the MVC Tournament. We are hungry right now, and we really want to get out and play.”
Finlay’s comments seem to echo the team’s collective sentiments. Clark’s players are not happy with their play the past few weeks, and they are ready to prove they are better than they showed as the regular season wound down.
Some fans point to an increase in goals allowed by a Creighton defense that was among the national leaders in the first half of the season as a cause for concern, but the coaching staff doesn’t buy it.
“People are quick to point at the defense,” assistant coach Johnny Torres said, “but it is a whole team thing. We need to work on our game management and how we approach different moments and opportunities in each game.
“We need to play 90 minutes, not 45. There were too many occasions where we would score quickly and take a 2-0 lead and end up losing 3-2.”
Torres and Clark and Rowland only have a few short days to help the players work through these issues and prepare for the Lobos. But the attitude around the program is extremely positive, as evidenced by the scene during the selection show Monday. The Bluejays know there is work to do, but they say they’re ready and they say they’re hungry.