Creighton opened their season last weekend like a tidal wave. Twelve goals for, one goal against, and they did it against one team that was in the NCAA Tournament last year and another out of the Big Ten that brought back nearly all of their contributors from a 9-win campaign. The Bluejays were rewarded for their efforts by going from unranked to 7th in the United Soccer Coaches Association Poll.
As impressive as Johnny Torres’ Jays have looked this fall — between two regular season matches and three exhibitions they have outscored their opponents 23-4 — it’s still not even September yet. There are still over two months to go before Big East and NCAA Tournament time. But that doesn’t mean one is supposed to gloss over everything that happens at this stage.
I am far from an expert on soccer, but I have covered the sport since 2012. I’ve seen hundreds of matches, and what happened on Sunday night in Creighton’s win over Rutgers stuck with me.
It wasn’t the 6-1 final score. Since 1990, Bob Warming’s first season as head coach, the Bluejays have won 28 matches by five goals or more. Yes, the result is notable, especially when it’s paired with a 6-0 result over a recent NCAA Tournament participant.
The thing about Sunday’s match against the Scarlet Knights was the second half. Creighton was up 3-0 at the break, and they acted like it in the second half. They were on the back foot more than they were in the first 45 minutes. They looked content to sit on the lead, then in the 55th minute, Rutgers scored.
Typically, what plays out next is a little more focus on Creighton’s side in an effort to protect the lead with a little more vigor, but not with the sense of urgency to attack the way they did in the first half. No need to take risks with a 3-1 lead. Just stay organized in the defensive third, move the ball, run out the clock, get the three points, and get a good night’s sleep.
These matches usually end 3-2 or 4-2 and the narrative afterwards, especially at this stage of a season, is about taking positives away from the first half and learning a lesson about the need to put in a full 90 minutes to avoid a letdown in the second half. Winning with plenty of runway to improve. Every coach’s dream.
That’s not how this one played out. Instead, not even five minutes after Rutgers got on the board, the Jays answered with three goals in the span of three minutes and 25 seconds. A Bud Crawford-esque, show-stopping blow that put the opponent down so hard the ref didn’t even bother counting before waving it off. It was some special stuff. A moment you could possibly find yourself looking back on in December. Don’t just take it from the point of view of a casual observer either.
Bluejays sophomore co-captain Mark O’Neill: “Johnny told us after the game that after letting in that goal, good teams might let in another and just survive, but great teams, after they let in that goal they push on and score more. That’s what it is. It’s a mindset. Everyone believes in themselves, everyone believes in the team, and we just keep going.”
Fourth-year head coach Johnny Torres: “I was really excited to see us answer the call. I’ve been here for a while now, and more often than I’d like to note, I feel that in the past when we’ve been in a situation like that — even at home when you take a lead and the opposing team gets one back — in the past we’ve had the tendency to maybe invert a little, maybe sit back and try to cushion the blow rather than responding and continuing to play the same exact way that got us in the position we were in before the other team scored. I was really proud of the guys for answering the call and not changing anything in the way that we were playing … I think that’s difference between a good team and the mark of a great team.”
As much as Torres wants to keep hammering home the fact that it’s still early in the season and his guys still have things they need to improve on, he hasn’t been able to hide how he feels about the group.
“I’ve been around the game for a long time,” Torres said. “Never have I seen a group progress and come together like this group has, and I mean that. Whether I was playing in club, whether I was playing collegiately, national teams, professionally, I’ve never seen a group of young men come together like this group’s come together. I said it last week, I’m so excited to watch them play again next week, and I continue to have the same sentiment.”
Torres won’t have to wait much longer. His next opportunity to send the Jays onto the pitch will come Friday night when Creighton hosts Saint Louis at 6:30 p.m. at Morrison Stadium.
The Billikens are coming off a season where they didn’t suffer their first defeat until their last match of the year, when eventual National Runner-Up Washington knocked SLU out in the Elite Eight.
One of Saint Louis’s wins during that impressive campaign was a 4-0 result over the Bluejays. It was Creighton’s most lopsided loss in nearly 25 years, and they haven’t forgotten.
“We were embarrassed,” Torres said. “As much as I would feel that it’s necessary to tap into it, I know that it’s not. I’m not the only one in the building that is chomping at the bit to get this game done on Friday. When I say that we were embarrassed in 2021 by Saint Louis, I think I speak for the entire group, coaches and community included. We are really looking forward to Friday.”