This is the first installment of White & Blue Review’s preview of the 2010 Creighton women’s soccer team. Join us every day this week as we take a look at a different part of Bruce Erickson’s club, leading up to his team’s regular season opener Friday, August 20, against South Dakota State.
Recapping 2009
Last season marked Bruce Erickson’s 11th at Creighton as the head coach for the school’s women’s soccer program. The 2009 Bluejays posted 13 wins, the most for an Erickson-led team. They played for a Missouri Valley Conference postseason championship. They posted a school-record 11 shutouts and had the 13th best goals against average in the NCAA. Six players ended the season with first team, second team, or honorable mention All-Valley honors.
After starting the season 7-1-1, Creighton suffered a 2-4 stretch that included road losses in conference against Illinois State and Drake. The Jays’ 3-2-1 conference finish meant Creighton entered the 2009 MVC Tournament as the #3 seed, where they beat #6 Evansville (1-0) and #2 Missouri State (2-1, OT) to advance to the Championship game. Playing in front of a friendly home crowd, the Bluejays couldn’t beat the tournament’s top seed, as Illinois State posted a 1-0 win and ended CU’s season. And while the season was a positive one, the Bluejays missed out on postseason soccer for the second consecutive season.
Brittney Neumann (2009 All-MVC first team, Freshman of the Year) and Beth Fyles (2009 Honorable Mention MVC) earned All-Tournament team honors for CU and return to help the Bluejays reach another MVC title game. Returning All-Valley players Kelly Connolly, Emily Orbell, and Alicia Montgomery join Neumann and Fyles as Erickson fields what he says is his most talented overall team in his time at the Hilltop.
All-Valley player Emily Orbell returns for the Jays
Let’s meet the coaching staff charged with developing Erickson’s talented team into a league champion and NCAA Tournament qualifier.
Bruce Erickson (Viterbo, 1990) // 12th season at CU
The first sentence in the 2010 media guide entry for Erickson sums up what he’s done while at Creighton: “Creighton’s all-time winningest women’s soccer coach…” Erickson enters 2010 with a 117-88-21 record at Creighton, including a 13-win season in 2009 that was one win off the school’s single-season record for victories. His Creighton teams have advanced to the MVC Tournament title game 6 times in the past 8 seasons, including last year’s championship match at Morrison Stadium. And he took four of those teams to the NCAA Tournament.
Before coming to Creighton, Erickson coached men’s soccer at Viterbo from 1993-1998. Oh, and in 1995, he coached the women’s team too. He also directed the school’s athletic programs from 95-98. That’s multitasking!
Ilena Moschos (Wofford, 1998) // 4th season at CU
The former goalkeeper for Greece’s women’s national team makes her presence felt between the posts for the Bluejays. During Moschos’ three seasons as an assistant, Creighton keepers have posted 25 shutouts. In 2009, no opponents score more than two goals in a game against the Jays.
Moschos cut her coaching chops at Florida State, Iowa State, North Texas, Sacramento State, Wyoming (where she earned a master’s degree), and Davidson.
Digger Hawkins (Chichester, 2002) // 1st season at CU
Hawkins rose through Portsmouth FC program of the English Premier League as a player in England before coming to the United States. Since coming to Omaha following his work at the Asian Soccer Academy in Indonesia, Hawkins served as Director of Coaching at the Gretna Soccer Club and worked with the Nebraska Olympic Development Program.
Ivonne Valentin (Creighton, 2007) // 5th season at CU
Don’t let her 5 years as a volunteer coach at Creighton fool you: Valentin’s been roaming the CU sidelines since 2002, when she started an All-Valley career for the Bluejays. Her four years at Creighton produced the soccer program’s most successful four-year run, including NCAA Tournament appearances in 2002, 2004, and 2005. She has also trained and competed with Puerto Rico’s national team since graduating from Creighton.