The Creighton Bluejays women’s soccer season is just a few days away, so now’s a perfect time to start previewing the 2013 squad charged with erasing the memory of last year’s 3-13-3 season while getting the school’s inaugural athletic season in the Big East off to a flying start. We’ll start with the forward position, an area of critical importance to this year’s team.
In 2012, the Jays scored just 18 goals in 19 matches. Six of those scores came from senior Brittney Neumann, who departed CU tied for 3rd all-time in school history in goals scored. Between Neumann’s graduation and Kelsey O’Donnell (2 goals in 2012) heading to the back four, head coach Bruce Erickson and his staff must find new faces capable of not only replacing, but also surpassing last season’s offensive output in order to compete in a much deeper conference than the one they finished 0-6-0 in last season.
“Every year is different. We tried to wipe the slate clean with a new year this year, and tried not to talk much about last year,” said Erickson. “We have high expectations. We weren’t thrilled about being picked 9th, but we’re not stupid. I think if I had to plug us in based on the other teams I think it’s probably fair because you’re always basing that stuff on last year. We’ll be up to the challenge.”
Creighton will call on senior Lauren Cingoranelli to provide scoring punch (Adam Streur/WBR)
One of the most important factors to the Creighton attack will be the play of Lauren Cingoranelli. The senior from Aurora, Colo., scored eight goals and was third on the team with 22 points as a freshman in 2010. Despite the promising start to her career she has not enjoyed the same success in each of the next two seasons, failing to score a goal as a sophomore and a junior. She is the only Bluejay in the last two seasons to have more than four shots on goal without converting on at least one of those chances.
Erickson spoke throughout last season that a lack of confidence may be affecting Cingoranelli’s ability to score goals, especially with how frequently she scored them as a freshman. So far in the preseason it looks as if she has broken out of her slump and is poised to be the scoring threat Creighton will need her to be this season.
Cingoranelli scored goals in each of the team’s three scrimmages, including the game-winner in the 68th minute against North Dakota State this past Saturday. With her ball-handling and ability to get by any defender in a one-on-one situation Creighton is hoping their senior attacker will continue to convert those chances into goals.
A couple key returnees up front along with Cingoranelli will be sophomores Alyssa Jara and Alissa Kohmetscher. As freshman they each scored their only goals of the season in the 3-1 win over South Dakota last Aug. 28, with Kohmetscher scoring the tying goal and Jara contributing the game-winner.
“[Jara] had high expectations last fall, but had an ‘OK’ season. She was very, very good in the spring, and this fall she’s picked right up where she left off,” Erickson said.
Jara, who actually played most of her minutes in the preseason as an attacking mid, along with Cingoranelli and Kohmetscher bring the most returning experience to the frontline for the Jays in 2013.
If the preseason is any indication the Creighton attack is set to receive a jolt from two newcomers, Kirstyn Corder and Lauren Sullivan, who had a propensity for finding scoring opportunities in the three scrimmages.
Corder, who scored two goals in the preseason including the tying goal in the second half against North Dakota State, is a transfer from the University of New Hampshire where she played one season and led the team in goals (5) and points (13), and finished second in assists (3). Originally from Overland Park, Kan., she will be a sophomore and have three years of eligibility remaining.
In Sullivan, the Jays have a prolific goal scorer as evidenced by her three goals in the blink of an eye during the Blue-White team scrimmage on Aug. 10. She scored an unreal 151 goals in her high school career, so it is no secret what her strength will be at Creighton.
“Lauren scores goals,” said Erickson. “The beauty of Lauren is that she’s a kid who, you know we were commenting that the first 25 minutes of the [Blue-White] game she was pretty quiet and didn’t do much. We even mentioned that and then a minute later she scores, and we look up 15 minutes later she’s got two more goals. I’m excited about her.”
Freshman Paige Jarsombeck, sophomore Maddie Nelson, junior Addison Nokels, and senior Emma Auld will offer contributions off the bench to begin the season for Erickson. Jarsombeck scored the first goal of the Blue-White scrimmage and assisted on Cingoranelli’s goal in what was an encouraging collegiate debut for the newcomer from Illinois.
The Jays scored at least two goals in each of their preseason scrimmages this year after doing that in just four out of their 19 matches in 2012. With the season set to begin Friday, August 23, at Utah State, we’ll see if this talented front line can prove to be a more formidable group than last season.