Freshman defender/midfielder Gabriela Guillen came to Creighton from San Jose, Costa Rica. She has three shots on goal this season.
The women’s soccer team (10-5-2 overall) ranks third in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 2-2-1 record. The Jays’ last regular season game at Evansville will determine its seed for the Missouri Valley tournament, of which Creighton hosts the semifinals and finals on Nov. 6 and 8.
We caught up with Guillen via e-mail to find out how her first season as a Jay is going.
Q. What is the best thing about playing Division I soccer?
A. The fact that I have learned a lot of new things and I have improved since the season started. Here the style of game is different.
Q. How did you decide to come to Creighton?
A. In my country, to go study abroad is a super good achievement and I searched for Creighton because I have a friend here in Omaha who told me about this school and their good soccer and academic program.
Q. Do you miss Costa Rica or are you feeling at home in Omaha?
A. Of course I miss Costa Rica, my family and my friends, but my teammates and friends have made Omaha and Creighton like
my home.
Q. Have your teammates been helping you adjust?
A. They have made me feel at home and helped me with everything.
Q. What has been the biggest challenge in coming to Creighton so far?
A. The biggest challenge has been my adjustment to the change of language from Spanish to English. The first days it was very hard in practices and class, but now I think that I am getting much better.
Q. What has been your favorite moment in Creighton soccer so far?
A. My best moment was the first game I played. I wasn’t supposed to play that game because I wasn’t cleared by the NCAA, but around 10 minutes before the game, coach received a phone call telling him that I was allowed to play.
Q. What are your goals for the rest of the season?
A. My goals are basically team goals. We all want to do well in the rest of our season to go to the NCAA tournament.
Q. Are you looking forward to the Missouri Valley Tournament at Morrison?
A. Yes, I am. That would be awesome to host this big tournament because we will play at home, and we will have all of our people supporting us!