Aaron’s Column: Throw Down

So far this season, the status quo in men’s soccer has not changed, considering that the team still cannot find any sort of success in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Panthers went without a victory in the conference last year. They lost eight of the nine conference games and tied in one of the games as well.

This year, the top guns in the conference have shown no signs of weakening while the Panthers need to make a large stride in their level of play.

With teams like Creighton, Southern Methodist and Vanderbilt in the MVC, the Panthers have been lost in the shuffle amongst teams that compete on a national level.

This year Creighton, which is currently ranked 11th in the country, has been ranked as high as number four in the country. The Blue Jays are consistently one of the top teams in the country as well as in the MVC.

Head coach Bob Warming turned around the Blue Jay program during his first stint with the team, which lasted from 1990-94, and made the team into a consistent winner.

Creighton has made an appearance in the NCAA tournament every year for the past 12 seasons, and, if this year is any indicator, is showing no signs of slowing down.

In their victory over the Panthers on Sunday, Creighton showed just how strong they could be in the first half.

During the first 45 minutes of play, the Blue Jays played their strongest as they scored both of their goals and managed to dominate the tempo of the game.

After the first half ended, Creighton put only their best players in while in the middle of the half when Eastern was starting to make a push offensively.

But after Creighton regained control of the game they went back to playing a few more of their bench players and were able to finish off the game that way.

Usually when conference opponents are able to come into an MVC matchup, one that is on the road no less, they do not play that many of their bench players.

But against Eastern, Creighton was able to do just that and did so while still winning the game in impressive fashion.