Sophomore forward Lauren Sullivan both kicked off and capped off a dominant performance by Creighton women’s soccer on Monday afternoon. The Kansas City, Missouri product scored her second and third goals of the young season to lead the Bluejays (3-0-0) to a 4-0 win over Western Illinois (1-2-0) on Labor Day at Morrison Stadium.
With more than a week in between games, the Bluejays came out hoping to put forth a better effort than they did in their home opener against Incarnate Word. And after saying all the right things leading up to the Western Illinois match, the Jays came out and walked the talk. They got off three shots in the first five minutes before Sullivan broke through in the 13th minute with an unassisted goal. Known for her fancy footwork and her prolific goal-scoring, she showed off both on the game’s first goal, dribbling by multiple defenders before going far post to beat Western Illinois goalkeeper Victoria Kappel.
That would be one of many scoring chances the Western Illinois keeper would have to deal with on the afternoon. In the 29th minute, left back Angie Benson found herself 25 yards out with no one around her. The senior fired a rocket towards Kappel who just barely got her hand on the ball to deflect it over the cross bar. Benson created another chance in the 44th minute when she dribbled down the right side and sent a cross to junior Anastasia McCleary on the far side of the six-yard box. The ball landed just a split second before McCleary could get to the spot, and she wasn’t able to put a clean strike on it.
Although, they only had one goal going into the locker room at halftime, the Bluejays were not letting up despite having the lead just as they did in their 2-0 win over Incarnate Word last Sunday.
“I thought we connected well, and we had so many opportunities,” said freshman midfielder Summer Khalil. “We just unlucky with our shots.”
In the second half the Jays kept plugging away, firing off shot after shot, determined to change their luck and put this game away. In the 73rd minute they capitalized when junior midfielder Alissa Kohmetscher beat blew by her initial defender, froze the center back and sent a perfect ball to the far side of the six-yard box where junior forward Kirstyn Corder out-jumped her defender to head it into the net to give Creighton a 2-0 lead.
“That was typical ‘Salsa’,” said Lauren Sullivan of Kohmetscher play-making on the pitch. “She played one cross from over on the right side, and she played it kind of up and over the goal and out, which was so out of character for her. We talked about it at halftime because our lockers are right next to each other, and in the second half she hit that perfect on the ball for ‘Q’.”
Most will say that a two-goal lead in soccer is one of the worst leads to have because it seems so commanding, yet with one goal allowed the momentum can switch quickly. It’s why head coach Bruce Erickson always stresses to keep attacking and make two goals become three, and three become four. The Jays executed that direction flawlessly starting with Summer Khalil’s first career goal in the 78th minute from about 20 yards out gave Creighton a 3-0 lead. The 5-foot-3-inch, Omaha Westside product, played another perfect through ball from Kohmetscher to the far edge of the 18′, then struck it top shelf over the outstretched arms of Kappel.
“The goalie was going up for it so I wasn’t really sure,” Khalil said. “Normally you want to hit it to the far post on those, but I think it had enough power on it and I hit it with the inside of my foot so it was able to curve up. I knew I just had to shoot hard.
“It was so exciting,” she said of scoring her first career goal in front of her hometown fans. “I just wanted to redeem myself. I wasn’t happy with how I played in the first half, so I knew that once I went in when I see the goal I just need to shoot right away. Just that feeling afterwards brought my confidence back to where it was. It was so exciting.”
Sullivan put the icing on the cake with a another unassisted goal, this one from almost the same spot that Khalil scored hers. Sullivan went far post, spinning the ball away from Kappel and just inside the post to make it 4-0 in the 84th minute and give her the first career multi-goal match as a Creighton Bluejay to cap off an at times dominant and relentless effort by the team.
“I think this game should have been our home opener,” Sullivan said. “Even in this game there were times where we could’ve kept better possession, but I’m pretty pleased with the result.”
More than just a win and a better all around effort, it was another standout performance by perhaps Creighton’s most gifted attacker in Sullivan. After the game, coach Erickson said he’s starting to see some assertiveness to go along with that talent.
“She can score goals in bunches and you don’t want her to be content with just scoring a goal,” Erickson said. “I think when she goes and tries to find the game she has a day like today where she could have had a hat trick. She was great on the day. Two great goals, great spin and finish on the first one. She’s really starting to catch fire.”
Erickson was also happy with the overall effort his team gave considering he had three regular starters on the bench to begin the match due to various injuries.
“We knew this was going to be a game where the longer it went 1-0 for Western Illinois the better it would be for them,” he said. “But we got another one, and that led to two, and probably had enough chances to get six or seven. I was pleased with the shutout, pleased to get four (goals), and I was pleased to actual make adjustments and play a better second half.”
Lost in the story of the offense scoring four goals was the defense and sophomore goalkeeper Danielle Rice making a season-high seven saves in recording a second consecutive shutout. While some of the saves she made showed off her great ability in net, there were few breakdowns in the back line compared to the first two matches of the season.
“I thought we did really well,” Rice said. “We had some people that stepped into a new role that they haven’t been playing before and I thought they did wonderfully. They listened to direction. They were stepping to all of the right players that they should have, and just gave as much effort as they could. I’m ecstatic right now.”
Notes: Lauren Sullivan has now scored two game-winning goals in as many games after not recording any in 2013. … Creighton is now 12-0-0 all-time in games where they get at least one goal from the attacking trio comprised of junior Alyssa Jara and Kirstyn Corder, along with sophomore Lauren Sullivan. … Creighton is now 31-0-0 under Bruce Erickson in games where they score at least four goals, and they are 61-1-1 all-time when scoring four or more. … Sophomore goalkeeper Danielle Rice has a current scoreless streak of 196:19, which is the 2nd-longest of her career. … The header in the 73rd minute was the 10th goal scored by Kirstyn Corder during her Creighton career. … The two second half assists by junior Alissa Kohmetscher marked the first time in her career that she has recorded two assists in a match. Her career-high for a season is 3. … Creighton has now posted shutout victories in the first two home matches for the fourth time in school history, and first time since 2004.
