This weekend, Creighton’s men’s soccer program hosts Notre Dame in an exhibition match featuring two of the nation’s top 10 teams.
WBR caught up with CU head coach Elmar Bolowich to recap Thursday’s Blue-White scrimmage and preview the Bluejays’ Sunday match-up against the Irish.
WBR: What was your initial reaction when you learned that Creighton would be joining the Big East?
Elmar Bolowich: My initial reaction was that we would be facing stronger competition. In my eyes, it would be like being back in the ACC. We will consistently have 5 teams with a very strong chance of making the tournament year after year. We will constantly be challenged and we will need to be ready every game.
WBR: You and your staff have been know to want to play a tough competition in the non-conference portion of your schedule, partially because of the lack of strength of your former conference but also for preparation for the tournament. With the non-conference schedule already set when the new conference was announced, you will be faced with a very strong non-conference and conference schedule. How do you, your staff and players approach such a tough schedule? Do you welcome the challenge?
EB: We are all looking forward to the challenge. We obviously did not know that we would be faced with the conference schedule we will have this year, but there is not a whole lot you can do. By the time the conference was finalized, it was too late to pull out of any commitment, as it would cause a snowball effect on the other team’s schedule. I think I am more concerned about the travel than the competition. I always like to have a heavy schedule, as it prepares you and shows you where you stand as a program, I am just concerned we will be tired as well. As for the players, they are looking forward to it. They are excited to not have to get on a bus to Central Arkansas for 10 hours to play in front of 50 people. We will be heading to huge metropolitan areas and a lot of places will be new to these guys.
WBR: Focusing more on individual players on the field, Eric Miller is a guy that will bring a lot of experience to the table from his time playing in the U20 World Cup in Turkey. How do you see his experience benefiting your team as a whole?
EB: Eric had a completely different experience with the World Cup team as he was training with professional players. He has a much more professional and focused mind set and hopefully that will rub off on some of the other guys. Similar, the German players we will bring in this year had a similar experience, as they were playing with older non-professional players in Germany.
WBR: Continuing on that, we saw Timo Pitter and Vincent Keller make an impact right away last year. Do you see Fabian Herbers and Marvin Iskra having a similar impact this year?
EB: I have no doubt that these two will have an immediate impact on the team. Fabian is a very skilled player who has the ability to play any position on the field and Marvin is a very strong, physical presence. When you combine those two with Miller, Vincent, and Timo, you have a very strong core to work around.
WBR: Besides the Germans, do you see and other newcomers that have the potential to stand out right away?
EB: I think [Ricardo] Perez has shown some good signs. He had a beautiful through ball during the scrimmage last night that lead to the only goal. He should progress nicely.
WBR: Did anything stand out to you during the scrimmage last night?
EB: The scrimmage was less exciting that most people wanted, but it was on purpose. I wanted to make it as even a match as possible. I did not want to do upper classmen vs. lower classmen or starters vs. reserves. I wanted to have good matchups and have players marking players.
WBR: What will you be looking for during the exhibition vs. Notre Dame?
EB: Well, when you get two quality clubs in the filed like this, you don’t really view it as an exhibition. You want to go out and see where you are and what needs to be fixed. Last year we faced a good Maryland squad and gave up 3 goals right away. Well, we then knew what we needed to fix. The great part is we will actually be having two games on Sunday. We will have a 90 minute match with our starters, followed by a 60 minute match with our reserves. This is great because everyone will some quality time on the field in a game situation.
Here’s Bolowich talking about his Bluejays during the team’s media day earlier this week: