Their first exhibition match is still a few weeks away, but Creighton’s men’s soccer team has been accumulating preseason accolades for months now. Bob Warming’s 2008 team ended its season in the Elite Eight, and the 2009 edition has set its sights on an even better finish — the program’s first national championship.
One preseason poll puts the Jays at #2 in the country, while the NSCAA casts them as #6 before the start of the season. These lofty rankings and championship aspirations are usually bestowed on teams that feature experienced, talented difference-makers at each level of field. And according to the folks at the Missouri Athletic Club the Bluejays have at least three players that match this description.
Creighton seniors Byron Dacy, Chris Schuler, and Seth Sinovic were named to the 2009 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. The MAC Hermann Trophy is the ultimate individual honor for collegiate soccer players, and these three Bluejays have a chance to follow in the footsteps of one of their assistant coaches in pursuit of this trophy.
White & Blue Review caught up with current Jays assistant and Creighton hall-of-famer Johnny Torres, the 1997 National Player of the Year and winner of that season’s MAC and Hermann trophies (before the awards were combined in later years) about what the preseason nod means to the guys and what winning the award meant to him.
Johnny Torres accepts his National Player of the Year Trophy (Photo by Bill Greenblatt, copyright 1998 United Press International)
“To be honest with you, I always tried to put those things aside,” Torres said when asked what the preseason attention for an award like the Hermann Trophy meant to him while playing for Creighton. “I concentrated on doing the things that were asked of me to help make the team successful and figured the other stuff would fall as it may.”
Those things fell into place almost perfectly for Torre and the Jays while he donned the White and the Blue. He was actually a two-time player of the year (in 1996 he won the award bestowed by Soccer America), a dominant force for the Bluejays who carved out a hall of fame career while on the pitch in Omaha. But like any truly great athlete, he gives as much credit to his teammates as himself for winning the recognition he deserved.
“I have always been extremely proud and honored to have been fortunate enough to win the award. But I also know I would not have won the award had it not been for the tremendous teammates I had here at Creighton.”
And with a team full of returning players and three upperclassmen that are now being recognized as some of the best players in the nation, Torres said Dacy and Schuler and Sinovic can just concentrate on their responsibilities and let the rest take care of itself. “They must come to work every time they step on the field and be disciplined with their goals and aspirations,” he said.
Your first chance to see the 2009 Creighton men’s soccer team in action is Saturday, August 22, in a 7:00 p.m. exhibition match versus the Red Fury All-Stars at Morrison Stadium.