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The loss of seven starters from its College Cup soccer team won't alter Creighton's expectations heading into next season.

"I want to get back to the College Cup," Creighton coach Elmar Bolowich said. "It's going to be difficult and it's going to take a lot of hard work, but we're never going to lower our expectations."

The Bluejays knew that they were going to lose six seniors off the team that made it to the final four and finished with a 21-2-1 record. Four of the seniors — Ethan Finlay, Andrew Duran, Brian Holt and Jace Peters — were starters, as were junior Greg Jordan and sophomore Tyler Polak.

Jordan and Polak decided to leave school with eligibility remaining to enter professional soccer. Both were selected in last week's Major League Soccer SuperDraft, as were Finlay and Duran.

A seventh starter, junior midfielder Dion Acoff, has decided to transfer to a school closer to his home in southern California. Bolowich said Acoff could wind up at UC Santa Barbara.

"I think Dion has a chance to have a good experience there," Bolowich said.

Acoff finished sixth on the team in scoring with eight points on three goals and two assists. Another player, sophomore forward Liam Kelly, will transfer to the University of San Francisco. Kelly had a goal and an assist in a reserve role last season.

"Liam also wanted to get back closer to home," Bolowich said.

Creighton will begin next season without players who contributed 57 percent of the team's goals and 45 percent of its assists. In addition, the Bluejays lose four-fifths of their record-setting defense in Holt, Duran, Polak and Peters.

Creighton returns three of its top five scorers in forward Andrew Ribeiro and midfielders Bruno Castro and Jose Gomez. Castro finished second in scoring with 20 points, Gomez third with 16 and Ribeiro tied for fourth with nine.

Gomez did explore leaving school for pro soccer, receiving a trial during the holiday break with a team in Spain. Bolowich, who met with his team Monday to begin preparing for its spring exhibition season, expects Gomez to return.

Creighton also returns Eric Miller, who started every game in the back row as a freshman, as well as a dozen players who redshirted this season. Bolowich also expects to bring in eight or nine new players, two of whom have already enrolled.

Erik Pajunk, a forward from Barton College, and Benito Amaral, a defender from San Jacinto Junior College, will participate in spring drills.

"That is going to be really important," Bolowich said. "I look back at how it benefited Eric Miller when he joined us last spring. He got a chance to get used to what we expected, and we had a chance to evaluate what he could do.

"I think it will help Erik and Benito in the same way."

Pajunk, a native of Rio de Janeiro, earned both All-America and Academic All-America honors at Barton, a Division II school located in Wilson, N.C. Pajunk led Division II with 14 assists, tied for 11th in goals (15) and tied for third in points per game (2.44).

Amaral, a native of East Palo Alto, Calif., had two assists last season for San Jacinto. He is expected to fill one of the outside back positions.

"Both of them are skilled players that have the potential to help us," Bolowich said.

Creighton expects to sign another six or seven players next month, Bolowich said.

The coach said he expects that Holt will be the fifth Creighton player drafted when the MLS holds its supplemental draft Tuesday. The second phase of the league's draft will last four rounds.

Holt, a four-year starter, earned All-America status as a senior in helping Creighton set a national record for goals-against average of 0.206 in 2011.

"I hope Brian gets a chance," said Bolowich of the 5-foot-9 Holt. "He's a guy that a team is going to want to keep once it sees all the good things he is capable of doing."

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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