The Creighton men’s soccer team has soared to an excellent 3-1 start this season with a freshman leading the flock.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brian Holt has played every minute of all four regular season matches. With the departure of Matt Allen after last season, many Creighton fans saw the keeper’s position as a big question mark. Holt has filled that space nicely.

“Matt Allen is obviously a very good keeper,” Holt said. “This made me work hard to be ready to fill his position.”

His hard work paid off. Playing the most minutes of the three potential keepers, he played well enough during the spring and fall exhibition matches to be chosen as the starter. He’s only allowed two goals in four games, giving him an impressive 0.5 goals

against average.

As a freshman, Allen appeared in nine matches, starting five of them, and led the team with 45 saves. Holt has played four complete games this season and has logged six saves. He also has two shutouts so far this season against Portland and the University of California at Riverside, both of which were played at home.

Allen became the starting keeper his sophomore year, starting all 23 matches and playing all but 20 minutes. During that season, Allen had a streak of 480 minutes without allowing a goal. Already this season, Holt has had a streak of 232:44 without a goal, which was broken by Brian Harris of University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Allen finished his 4-year career at Creighton with 27 shutouts, 43 wins, 260 saves and 6,531 minutes played.

Holt, who has already played 360 minutes this season, is on pace to surpass Allen’s 650 minutes played his freshman year. If this continues, he will look to break Allen’s Creighton record for most minutes logged in the net.

However, Holt still has almost four years ahead of him to accomplish what Allen did. At this point, it’s almost impossible to directly compare the two.

“One had four years of experience and the other had four games,” head coach Bob

Warming said.

After four years with Allen, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall, Holt is a stark contrast. The 5-foot 8-inch tall keeper is among the shortest players on the team, but he uses his other skills to his advantage in goal. His acrobatic style of play is quite a change from what Creighton soccer fans are used to.

“I’m a shorter keeper, and so I play the position different than a taller keeper,” Holt said.

Warming says Holt’s speed is one of the qualities that sets him apart.

“Every player has a different style,” Warming said. “Brian’s quicker than Matt. He’s probably ahead of where Matt was after four games, in terms of ability.”

Holt has taken the role of keeper in stride. Where some freshmen may not feel comfortable giving orders to upperclassmen, Holt has no problem with it.

“He is excellent in communicating with the field players in front of him, and with this ability, he has made himself an outstanding keeper,” junior forward Jeff Thayer said.

Having the extra year to redshirt helped Holt get used to his teammates. “Brian’s a great guy,” Warming said. “They all get along very well. Having the extra time to fit in with the players was a big advantage.”

Holt’s leadership is as apparent as the respect that rest of the team has for him.

“His leadership is not only through his communication, but also through his actions,” Thayer said. “With just a save he can turn the emotion of the game completely around.”