Creighton men’s soccer kicks off the regular season Saturday, as the Bluejays head west to take on the University of Denver Pioneers. Head coach Elmar Bolowich spent last weekend watching his team compete against two other nationally ranked foes in exhibitions. On the eve of the team’s official start to the 2011 season, WBR caught up with assistant coach Johnny Torres to talk about the Jays’ efforts against Akron and Notre Dame last week.
White & Blue Review: You played Akron, the defending national champs, and Notre Dame, another national power, to draws last weekend without two of your top offensive weapons in Ethan Finlay and Dion Acoff. How pleased were you with the outcomes?
Johnny Torres: We were pleased with the effort that our guys gave out out there in both games. There were both positives and negatives that we can take away from each match. The thing that we really hope we can do is build on the positives and work out the negatives. As far as Ethan and Dion being out, I think it showed that we have a lot of depth to our team this year and we have the ability to fill in when needed. Every position is open right now and I think it allows us to have some healthy competition within the team.
WBR: How are Finlay and Acoff, physically? Will they be ready to go against Denver?
JT: I think it was the right decision to rest those two. They are feeling a lot better than they did a week ago and the time off was a great opportunity to get better. We will see how they progress, but we really don’t want to push anything. We will go day-to-day with them.
WBR: Jose “Choco” Gomez was able to put two in the back of the net against the Fighting Irish. Will he have the green light this season as we mostly saw him as an assist man last year?
JT: Choco is a special player for this team and he knows that. He provides a lot of offense for us and he has a great ability to create chances. If he has a shot, he should take it. He is a special kid.
For more about Creighton’s match with the Pioneers, check out our preview here.