Over their first two matches in Big East conference play, the Creighton women’s soccer team has proven that a group can work hard and play well for the most part, and still come out on the wrong end of a lopsided result.
Just as they did in a 5-1 loss at Marquette, the Bluejays appeared to match the DePaul Blue Demons skill for skill and position for position in between the 18-yard boxes on Thursday night, but inside the boxes, the Blue Demons dominated for 90 minutes, and walked away from Morrison Stadium with a 4-0 win as their reward.
“We competed well between the 18’s,” Creighton head coach Ross Paule said. “It’s the same theme we’ve been talking about; we do really well up to the 18, and then we’re either not getting the shots, or we’re not taking advantage of the shots. There are a lot of positives to take from how we played, but the bottom line is it’s about scoring goals and not allowing goals, and we haven’t done that the last two games.”
Creighton didn’t have a lack of chances to score goals against DePaul. The pressured the Blue Demons, found their forwards in the attacking third, and created eight corner kicks compared to five for DePaul. But once they got inside the penalty area, all of that was erased.
“I think right now it’s timing; our runs are just a little bit off, and we’re a little slow to the near post. That’s a dangerous run, that’s where people score most of the goals just off little deflections,” junior forward Lauren Sullivan said. “You have to give credit to DePaul, because even when we did have people making runs they were flying across the box and getting a foot on something magically. Credit where credit is due.”
DePaul out shot Creighton, 19-9, for the match, but the Blue Demons didn’t allow a single one of those shots into the goal in the first half as they took a 1-0 lead into the break after freshman forward Franny Cerny found space and scored from the right side of the goal box in the 38th minute.
That goal forced Creighton to open up more, and while that gave them more opportunities in the attacking third as they pressed more players forward, it left them vulnerable on the other side of the field.
“When you get the goal the game changes, and you have to change the way you play,” Paule said. “We got stretched. We were trying to push for a goal, and when we’re doing that is when we’re giving away more goals.”
Three more to be exact. The first came off the foot of junior forward Abby Reed on a corner kick in the 59th minute. Sophomore midfielder Alexa Ben initiated the set piece, finding Reed wide open about 10 yards outside of the box. As Creighton tried to close out on her, she fired a shot into the upper right corner of the net to give the Blue Demons a 2-0 lead.
In the 81st minute, senior forward Elise Wyatt scored a team-leading eighth goal of the season with a header in the box. Then, junior defender Taylor Schissler recorded her first points of the season, and sealed the 4-0 win, with a free kick from about 30 yards away.
Good or bad the Bluejays have said from the beginning that they want to get better after every match and learn a lesson each time they take the field. The positive takeaway is how they matched the reigning Big East regular season and tournament champions in the 84 yards of space that separates the penalty boxes at Morrison Stadium. The negative is everything taking place in the remaining 36 yards.
“It’s a mentality,” Paule, a former player himself, said. “When you’re in the box you’ve got to do everything to block those shots, and you’ve got to do everything to get touched tight to these players, because when you play against teams like Marquette and DePaul they’re going to punish you. If you allow them time and space in the box, they’re going to put the ball in the back of the net. Especially on crosses, we’ve been struggling on the crosses, and it’s something that we have to address very quickly. Same thing on the attacking side of the box. We have so many corners and we allow the goalkeeper just to pick up the ball. Again, it’s a mentality. They can do it, it’s just a matter of it clicking.”
The victory improved the Blue Demons to 10-0-3 against Big East competition over the last two seasons. They haven’t lost to a conference foe since November 10, 2013 when they fell 2-0 at Marquette in the Big East Tournament championship match.
“They’re a good team there is no denying it,” Sullivan said of the reigning conference champions.
“They are solid all over the field. We did our best trying to wear them down, but little mistakes cost us the game.”
Little mistakes made too often can have big consequences, and that’s where Creighton finds itself after two Big East matches in 2015. Sullivan said the team is encouraged by the way they are competing in between the boxes, but so far all they have to show for is a -8 goal differential in conference play.
“I think our midfield and a lot of the play from box to box is sort of the engine of our team,” the junior from Kansas City, Missouri said. “It’s just in the box where, we say we have to die in the box, we say that all of the time, but we just have to finally do it. Hopefully Sunday we’ll put that into action.”
Sunday, that’s the next chance Creighton will have to get some points on the board in the Big East standings when they welcome the 1-10-0 Villanova Wildcats to Morrison Stadium, and according to Creighton’s first-year head coach, it’s not too early to admit how important it will be to come away from that match with a result.
“It’s huge. It’s everything. It’s the season to me,” Paule said. “Now every game that we play is a must-win. We must get a result. We’re at home, and we’re playing another Big East team, and we have to get a result. Our goal is to make the [conference tournament], and in order to make the tournament we’re going to have to win games.”
