Junior midfielder Alyssa Jara entered the 2014 season with three career goals in 36 matches. In Friday night’s contest with New Mexico State she nearly completed a hat trick in the first half of the match. Jara settled for two goals, tallying her first multi-goal match of her career while also adding an assist as the Creighton women’s soccer team improved to 4-0-0 for the first time since 2008 behind a 6-0 blowout of the visiting Aggies (1-5-0) at Morrison Stadium.
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“If Jara doesn’t nick the post she’s got a hat trick in 40 minutes,” said Creighton head coach Bruce Erickson. “She was special when she wanted to be. There’s no doubt about it.”
New Mexico State got off to a fast start in the opening minutes of the match. The Aggies dictated possession and the front row duo of Layla Todd and Jennae Cambra created some scoring chances early, but couldn’t get any shots on goal as the Creighton back-line, specifically right back Emily Roll and center back McKynzie Dickman adjusted to their opponents. “When we did our scouting report we highlighted those two players, so I’m going to give them the credit they deserve, they’re good players,” said Roll. “It just took us a second to figure out what they were all about and shut them down.”
Once the Bluejays did that it soon became apparent that New Mexico State was overmatched when it came to dealing with Creighton’s attacking third. In the 7th minute, Jara put the Bluejays on the board with her second score of the year. Junior forward Kirstyn Corder possessed the ball with her back to the goal, shielding two Aggie defenders. She passed it to Jara, who was wide open just inside the 18′ and she slotted it into the left side of the net to give Creighton a 1-0 lead.
In the 17th minute, sophomore midfielder Ylenia Sachau nearly made it 2-0 from 30 yards out, but Aggie goalkeeper Tayler Hammack made a diving save to keep it out of the goal. Corder had a great chance just outside the six-yard box in the 33rd minute, but her shot was deflected by the a New Mexico State defender.
In the 36th minute, Alyssa Jara put another one on the board when she played a cross from junior midfielder Alissa Kohmetscher from about 20 yards out. She hit the cross bar dead center and the ball dropped behind Hammack and just over the line to put the Jays up 2-0. “I didn’t even know the second goal went in honestly,” Jara said. “I was rolling backwards and I just saw people cheering that it went in.”
Almost four minutes later the junior from Folsom, California just missed a hat trick after New Mexico State failed to mark up and left her open in practically the same spot where she scored her second goal. This one she sent low across the turf where it hit the far post and deflected passed the keeper where Corder was waiting to send it in the back of the net and give the Jays a 3-0 lead at halftime. “We were working on rebounds a lot in practice,” said Corder. “We’ve been getting yelled at for not following shots, so we made it a point to follow every shot this time and that’s how I got my goal.”
Despite the commanding lead, Coach Erickson thought his team could play better. “In the first half, despite scoring three goals, I think we possessed it probably 50%,” Erickson said. “We wanted to be at 70 or 75.”
The Jays came out sharper in the second half. They dominated possession and created and capitalized on their scoring chances throughout the final 45 minutes. In the 47th minute senior forward Addison Nokels scored her first career goal as a Bluejay after she received a cross from Emily Roll and drilled it into the back of the net off the bounce from 14 yards out. Though it was the fourth goal in a blowout victory, Coach Erickson believes Nokels’ goal was the biggest because of what he hopes it will do for her confidence after she missed on a few close chances in the previous two matches.
“Anytime you spread around your goals you gain confidence. Above anything else that’s what we need,” Erickson said. “I think the most important goal to me was Addy. She’s had so many chances and she scored a good one tonight.”
Stephanie Anasi and Ylenia Sachau scored the final two goals of the match in completely opposite ways. Anasi scored from inside the six-yard box on a ball that was deflected by the keeper but rolled into the goal, similar to the chance she created in the home opener against Incarnate Word. Sachau, the sophomore out of Germany, banged home an absolute laser from barely inside 30 yards that Hammack had no chance of stopping. Capping off a second half where all three goals were scored by players who had yet to find the back of the net on the young season.
It was another dominant victory and another clean sheet for sophomore goalkeeper Danielle Rice and her back line of Emily Roll, McKynzie Dickman, Madelyn Buckner, and Angie Benson. That group has not allowed a goal since the second half of the season opener against South Dakota State. Roll credits the growing chemistry amongst the back four as well as Rice’s direction in her second year in goal. “I would say Dani has come out of her shell a lot more,” Roll said. “As a freshman it might be a little bit intimidating to be telling a senior to do this, and as a sophomore she’s really embodied being a vocal member of the team and it’s such a pivotal spot on the field, too. We all really enjoy hearing her back there.”
The Bluejays will now get a day in between games before taking the pitch at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday at Morrison Stadium when they welcome old Missouri Valley Conference foe Drake back to Omaha. The Bluejays eliminated the Bulldogs from the MVC Tournament in their final year in the conference, and beat them 5-1 back in the spring. The Jays expect to be facing a hungry team on Sunday due to the recent history. “I think we’re going to talk as a team to not worry about what happened in the past,” Corder said. “We have to think of it as a clean slate. Every year a team is different. They have new freshman. It’s just a completely different team, so you can’t judge it based on what happened in the spring. We just need to bring it harder and better and show that we’re getting better and not getting complacent.”
Notes: Sophomore goalkeeper Danielle Rice has a current scoreless streak of 272:59 consecutive minutes, which is just 1:15 off her career best. … Creighton is 13-0-0 all-time when either Alyssa Jara, Kirstyn Corder, or Lauren Sullivan score a goal. … That trio has combined to score 10 of Creighton’s 15 goals this season. … This is the second time under Bruce Erickson that the Bluejays have opened a season by winning their first four matches. They haven’t won their first five since 1993. … The 15 goals scored in the first four games are the most since the Bluejays scored 16 in the their inaugural season in 1989. … The +13 scoring margin through the first four games is tied for second best all-time and just one behind the +14 mark set in 1989. … Alyssa Jara, Kirstyn Corder, and Lauren Sullivan have scored the game-winning goals in Creighton’s last six victories dating back to a 3-2 victory on October 3, 2013 at Providence. … Creighton has now posted shutout victories in three consecutive matches for the first time since 2010.
