The Creighton Men’s soccer team got off to their worst start since the Jays started 2-2-1 in 2009, when the team finished 7-4-5 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the only time since 1991. The Jays are now 6-3 after a 3-3 start and just got back into the rankings at No. 25 after a preseason ranking of No. 14.
The Bluejays had a tough nonconference schedule that featured losses, against No. 17 Virginia Tech —now in others receiving votes—, No. 1 Stanford —now No. 11—, and wins against California —who is in others’ receiving votes— and No. 24 UNO. Creighton also opened Big East play with a heartbreaking loss to No. 22 Butler in overtime, where the Jays gave up two goals in the final 13 1/2 minutes and then lost two minutes and 45 seconds into overtime, with a final score of 3-2.
The loss dropped the Jays to 3-3, but since then the Jays have beat Tulsa, Villanova, and UNO to get to 6-3 and 1-1 in Big East play. The Jays toughest games remaining are at home against St. John’s (5-2-1), home against Xavier (5-2-2) and at No. 14 Georgetown (6-1-1).
“We have a lot of new players, especially in our front six, so we are starting to blend a little bit better,” senior Lucas Stauffer said after beating Villanova. “We are starting to hit our stride. I think in the past we’ve hit our stride too early and fallen off in a sense when it comes to later on in the season. I think it’s opposite this year.”
This perfectly exemplifies the Jays so far this season, as Creighton scored one goal in their first three games (1-2) and have scored 12 goals in the past six games (5-1) heading into Big East play. After three straight wins, expect the Jays recent success to carry over throughout the rest of the season as they seem to have found a recipe for success with the incorporation of new players into the rotation.
On Tuesday, Ricky Lopez-Espin scored his fifth goal of the season. He continues to show why he is on the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy watch list, with the trophy given to the top player in men’s soccer. When Lopez-Espin is playing at the top of his game, he has the ability to carry Creighton past tough opponents, as he did against Tulsa, scoring a late game-tying goal, and UNO, scoring the game-winning goal.
As always, reaching the NCAA Tournament is expected of the Bluejays, but how far this team goes will come down to the chemistry they can build throughout the rest of the regular season and Big East Tournament.
The Jays have plenty of tough competition to test themselves against and get a good measure of how they stack up against the rest of the field.