The regular season is running out on Creighton’s soccer teams. The women’s squad won the regular season Missouri Valley Conference championship and hosts the Valley tournament this weekend at Morrison Stadium. The men clinched at least a share of the regular season title and play their final game before the MVC Tournament Saturday at Morrison Stadium, too.
As part of our ongoing Futbol Friday series we caught up with Bruce Erickson ahead of his team’s semifinal showdown against Evansville Friday night, and Jamie Clark before his Bluejays’ match against Bradley Saturday afternoon.
Brittney Neumann's goal in overtime gave Creighton the MVC Title (Adam Streur for WBR)
White & Blue Review: How would you preview your match with Evansville?
Bruce Erickson: The game we played against Evansville earlier in the season was a good game by our standards. We were able to come out with a 3-0 victory. UE will be pretty inspired when we play, and our girls will be ready as well. I would say the game should be a close one, but if we play like we have been, we should hold our own. The fact that we will be playing at home will be nice as well, but it is not a huge advantage. The teams coming in are familiar with the facilities, and it is a good field to play on.
WBR: You have had a pretty good run this season, including a regular season championship; how would you grade the team’s performance this season?
BE: When I look back, I think we should have won every game this season. We had a number of games that could have gone either way and a few games, like Missouri State, where we just played a bad game. We had a number of girls step up this season, and when we play well and together, we are pretty good.
WBR: Has there been a player or two that has surprised you over the course of the season?
BE: I would say there are four that come to mind. Claire Zach has developed into arguably the best defender in the conference. Erin Gunther has improved a lot. She started the season knocking on the door to play, and now we are better when she is on the field. Rachelle Holt is another example of a player that started the year looking for playing time and now has started well over half of our games. And Brittney Neumann has been a great leader by example. Those four are all probable the four hardest workers on the team. Funny how they are also the most improved, huh?
Sergio Castillo scored a goal in Creighton's 2-0 win against Missouri State
WBR: Saturday you will be facing Bradley in the final game of the regular season, how do you see the Jays matching up with the Braves?
Jamie Clark: Really, it seems like they play a different style each game. This game will carry a lot of weight in terms of our conference seeding and if we will receive a bye week or not. For them, they will either finish fifth or sixth, so it will mean a lot more to us.
WBR: With the season winding down, and with you guys wrapping up at least a share of the MVC regular season title, how gratifying is it to you and the others guys after being picked third in the preseason?
JC: The guys have been pretty positive all year. They know the history of this program and they wanted to help get it back to the NCAA Tournament. This program is one of the top ten programs in the nation, and they didn’t want to be the group that didn’t succeed.
WBR: Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, how big are your next three or four games for seeding?
JC: They are huge. Obviously if we can win out in the conference tournament we will get an automatic bid, but I think we have a pretty good shot of making the field now. With that said, we win our tournament, we could possible get into that top 16, which allows for a bye week and a bit more time for prep and scouting. Also, it would be a great feeling for the team to know we were able to secure one of those top 16 spots.