Spring Soccer Preview

Spring+Soccer+Preview

Patrick Dowd, Jay Journal Staff

It may not seem like spring yet, but the spring soccer season is here. After a first round exit in the state tournament last year to Kearney, this year’s team is looking to improve and win Creighton Prep’s 10th state soccer championship. This year’s team is stacked with seniors and two of those seniors are Creighton soccer commits. Duncan McGuire and Luke Waters are both committed to Creighton and are ready to lead the team to the state championship.

 

“Our expectation is definitely a state championship,” Waters said. “I don’t think we expect anything less, we’re coming off a first round exit and we are looking to bounce back and win it this year.”

 

The team has several returning players from last year who are all looking to have big season.

 

“One player to look out for is senior Michael Ambrose who is a big center back, really hard to get around,” McGuire said. “Another is our senior goalie Sam Forrest who is really good, very athletic, and his distribution is amazing.”

 

Both Waters and McGuire look forward to having a bigger role this season being a returning senior on the team.

 

“I think my role will change in leadership this year, I’m a captain so I will have to show great leadership, clutch up in the tough games and help our new players get better and produce,” Waters said.

 

Both of these players know that state championships don’t come easy, so they will have to work hard to reach their end goal.

 

“To win a state championship, we are going to have put our club season behind playing on different teams and we have to come together as one team,” McGuire said. “We have to really take practice seriously and not joke around because we have a great group of players that can definitely win a championship.”

 

Creighton Prep should be one of the favorites to win the state championship this year with all of their returning talent, but they will have some tough competition from other schools.

 

“Omaha South has a lot of players coming back too so I think that will be a tough matchup,” Waters said. “Lincoln Southwest’s whole team is pretty much a club team, those guys play together all year so it will be tough to beat them,” McGuire said.

 

Waters and McGuire have both committed to Creighton to play soccer at the next level and they both experienced a unique recruitment process.

 

“You can’t start talking to Division 1 schools until after your first quarter as a junior, so around October of junior year I contacted the coach and set up a visit with him,” McGuire said. “After we had a meeting where he gave me an offer and I accepted,” McGuire said.

 

For Waters, the recruitment process was slightly different, but the end result was the same.

 

“My recruitment process started after last year’s state game at Kearney when Johnny Torres contacted me and wanted to discuss my potential future at Creighton,” Waters said. “Eventually I had a visit to Creighton where I toured the locker room and saw a game and after that I kind of knew I wanted to go to Creighton.”

 

Waters and McGuire have known about Creighton their whole lives, growing up in the Omaha area, so were both very excited to get an offer and knew it was the right choice.

 

“I’ve been going to Creighton games since I was about eight and have always loved their program and style of play,” McGuire said. “I also didn’t want to move far away because I like hanging out with my brother and being with my family.”

 

“Before the game when I was visiting I was hanging out with all the players and it seemed like the right place for me,” Waters said. “Duncan is going there too so we have some chemistry going in and it’s a great coaching staff and program overall.”

 

After last season, Creighton made a coaching change from Elmar Bolowich to Johnny Torres, so that could have led to some second thoughts.

 

“It kind of worried me because it happened the day before signing day and I hoped that the coaching change wouldn’t change my offer,” McGuire said. “But I feel like the change was what’s best for the program and I’m really excited to work with Johnny.”

 

“The coaching change did not give any second thoughts,” Waters said. “In a way it stood out to me that Johnny contacted me from the beginning so I was very happy with the coaching change.”

 

Waters and McGuire are both excited for their future and to take the next step in their soccer careers.

 

“I’m excited to get to go there with Luke and have someone that I know going with me and being able to experience it together,” McGuire said.

 

“I’m excited to get in there and start working and to improve as the years go on,” Waters said.