2023 Creighton Men's Soccer

[JayPak]

Watching the game live, UNO was by far the more dynamic offensive team, with more creativity, explosiveness, and crisper passing. Often, two Mavericks would manage to make Creighton’s entire defense look silly. If not for stellar goalkeeping, it could’ve been a 6-2 loss.

Creighton’s offense more often than not was in possession of the ball but it was possession without purpose.

To Creighton’s credit, the Jays were the more polished side on set pieces and looked like they spent time practicing them.

2500 fans on a weeknight with impending weather isn’t bad, but comparing the stadium energy to the Derby matches pre-pandemic (‘16-‘19 at both campuses), energy has dropped a lot as has the level of play. Though the fighting on the field has remained constant!

[Outlaw_Wales]

Watching the game live, UNO was by far the more dynamic offensive team, with more creativity, explosiveness, and crisper passing. Often, two Mavericks would manage to make Creighton’s entire defense look silly. If not for stellar goalkeeping, it could’ve been a 6-2 loss.

Creighton’s offense more often than not was in possession of the ball but it was possession without purpose.

To Creighton’s credit, the Jays were the more polished side on set pieces and looked like they spent time practicing them.

2500 fans on a weeknight with impending weather isn’t bad, but comparing the stadium energy to the Derby matches pre-pandemic (‘16-‘19 at both campuses), energy has dropped a lot as has the level of play. Though the fighting on the field has remained constant!

I've always wondered what, if any, effort is made to get students interested and involved in coming to the soccer games. That's a big part of what has made really high energy crowds at Morrison in the past -- games where the student section has been full, loud, engaged, etc. That plays a big role all by itself and I think it also can have an impact on the rest of the crowd following suit a bit. So far this year the student section has been pretty empty or pretty dead even when there are people there. It was better for the Homecoming game where they were doing food and stuff there for students, but otherwise pretty quiet and/or empty.

[JacobPadilla]

Stumbled across this article today focused on last year's run to the Cup.

https://totalfootballanalysis.com/artic ... um=Twitter

[JayPak]

I've always wondered what, if any, effort is made to get students interested and involved in coming to the soccer games.

Tuesday night there was a hat giveaway, but there were more hats than students who came to get them. Students should have been the group least affected by the early start time and possibility of bad weather.

Comparing current games to pre-pandemic years, with the exception of the now omnipresent beer tent there are fewer (as in "no") in-game promotions and giveaways now, compared to then. The biggest promotional success is Socctoberfest, now in its 11th year. And the new scoreboard/videoboard is nice and was needed. But it just doesn't seem like a lot of energy is put into game production.

Ticket prices aren't much higher than ten or five years ago. Quality of opponents on the home schedule is similar. But parking is more expensive and difficult, and the product on the field has declined. I think that Creighton soccer needs more promotion and production, not less.

[JayPak]

I've always wondered what, if any, effort is made to get students interested and involved in coming to the soccer games.

Tuesday night there was a hat giveaway, but there were more hats than students who came to get them. Students should have been the group least affected by the early start time and possibility of bad weather.

Comparing current games to pre-pandemic years, with the exception of the now omnipresent beer tent there are fewer (as in "no") in-game promotions and giveaways now, compared to then. The biggest promotional success is Socctoberfest, now in its 11th year. And the new scoreboard/videoboard is nice and was needed. But it just doesn't seem like a lot of energy is put into game production.

Ticket prices aren't much higher than ten or five years ago. Quality of opponents on the home schedule is similar. But parking is more expensive and difficult, and the product on the field has declined. I think that Creighton soccer needs more promotion and production, not less.

Stumbled across this article today focused on last year's run to the Cup.

https://totalfootballanalysis.com/artic ... um=Twitter

Cool article, with info I hadn't seen elsewhere. Thanks for sharing.
The article makes Johnny and staff look ingenious, and the F4 run a logical outcome of a brilliant plan. It is easy to have confidence in the staff after reading this. But then why does the offense look so pedestrian other than the one brilliant offensive season (when the defense was shaky)?

[Outlaw_Wales]

I've always wondered what, if any, effort is made to get students interested and involved in coming to the soccer games.

Tuesday night there was a hat giveaway, but there were more hats than students who came to get them. Students should have been the group least affected by the early start time and possibility of bad weather.

Comparing current games to pre-pandemic years, with the exception of the now omnipresent beer tent there are fewer (as in "no") in-game promotions and giveaways now, compared to then. The biggest promotional success is Socctoberfest, now in its 11th year. And the new scoreboard/videoboard is nice and was needed. But it just doesn't seem like a lot of energy is put into game production.

Ticket prices aren't much higher than ten or five years ago. Quality of opponents on the home schedule is similar. But parking is more expensive and difficult, and the product on the field has declined. I think that Creighton soccer needs more promotion and production, not less.

The beer tent is an interesting one. I will confess that I usually prefer to sit over on the berm, so I haven't been in the beer tent to see how many people are in there drinking during the game. I know that during Socctoberfest, if you're in that tent drinking you probably aren't paying any attention at all to what's going on on the pitch, so I'm guessing anyone who does hang out there is likely not actually actively into the game. And when they do the big "promotion" of 3 minutes of cheaper beer when the gong goes off after a goal, there's little or no chance I'm making it from the berm all the way around the entire pitch in time to get that promotion, so I'm not even trying -- do people actually walk all the way to that tent from their seats to get cheap beer? Is that even a meaningful promotion? I'm sure it is absolutely not going to get anyone to actually go to the game just to enjoy that.

I saw the hats. I would have loved one. Should have opened it up to actual fans if the students weren't going to show up for them! It looked like there was some other kind of an event with a food tent, too, but not sure what that was all about.

[JayPak]

BE is going to be just a 2-3 bid conference this season. Yikes! And Creighton currently has the second-worst RPI in the BE. Double Yikes!!

[Realhoops]

Doesn’t look like a turnaround is likely during the season. Lost at Seton Hall yesterday. Maybe they can put it together for a BE tourney run.

Big one Thursday with #3 Akron coming in. Having them in conference now is nice.

[omajay]

Doesn’t look like a turnaround is likely during the season. Lost at Seton Hall yesterday. Maybe they can put it together for a BE tourney run.

Big one Thursday with #3 Akron coming in. Having them in conference now is nice.

Yesterday's loss was frustrating. We gave up a goal with 11 seconds left in the first half. We also gave up a goal to Butler the prior game with a minute or two left. Out defense has be suspect all year.

Gordio Probo did not play yesterday and apparently didn't make the trip; he was at the volleyball game Friday night. I also noticed Mitchell did not play either. I know he had to sit out vs. Butler. Probo is a big loss if he is hurt.

[Outlaw_Wales]

Doesn’t look like a turnaround is likely during the season. Lost at Seton Hall yesterday. Maybe they can put it together for a BE tourney run.

Big one Thursday with #3 Akron coming in. Having them in conference now is nice.

Yesterday's loss was frustrating. We gave up a goal with 11 seconds left in the first half. We also gave up a goal to Butler the prior game with a minute or two left. Out defense has be suspect all year.

Gordio Probo did not play yesterday and apparently didn't make the trip; he was at the volleyball game Friday night. I also noticed Mitchell did not play either. I know he had to sit out vs. Butler. Probo is a big loss if he is hurt.

What my eye has told me watching games this year is that there are a lot of guys getting a lot of minutes who don't have much focus or drive. I see guys lightly jogging after the play a lot, being careless with passes or attempted tackles and then not working hard to get back into it, etc. That's a big part of why the defense looks so suspect -- too many guys just being casual all over the place.

Still feels like there is enough individual talent across the board that they COULD go on a run. But not much to really suggest they have it in them to do so.

I know it's a rebuilding year. But a year after making the national semifinals to basically be a massive longshot to even make the BE tourney at this point is disappointing.