Kylin Grubb got on the board for the Bluejays on Thursday night. (Streur / WBR)
Ross Paule’s Creighton women’s soccer team finished their preseason unbeaten with a 3-0 win over D-II foe Missouri Western State on Thursday night at Morrison Stadium. Newcomers Aline Reinkober and Juelle Love each found the back of the net in the first 15 minutes of the match to build an early lead, then junior Kylin Grubb sealed the deal with a strike in the 59th minute to help the Bluejays finish the exhibition portion of their 2018 schedule with a 2-0-1 record.
The Jays held MWSU to three shots over the course of the three 30-minute periods. None of them were on frame, which made for a stress-free night for both of Creighton’s freshmen goalkeepers in Katie Sullivan and Chloe Behrns.
“The thing I’m really pleased about is that we didn’t give away any easy chances,” Paule said. “It’s been a long time for this team working towards that … it was a good performance. A great way to head into the regular season.”
Creighton’s attacking pieces applied a lot of pressure for the third match in a row after struggling to sustain a threat for much of last season, and it was the newcomers who spearheaded that attack on Thursday. After Love drew a foul just outside the 18-yard box, Reinkober, a freshman from Riesa, Germany, lined up in front of Missouri Western State’s wall and bent a left-footed strike inside the far post to give the Bluejays a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute of the match.
“She’s a very technical player,” Paule said of the German midfielder. “For her to do something like that, while it’s amazing as a freshman, she just has that ability. I saw it when I first saw her when I was recruiting her in Germany. She’s a special player around the box and has a great left foot … I don’t think that’s the last one we’re going to see from her.”
The second goal for the Jays came almost exactly four minutes later when junior midfielder Taryn Jakubowski came up the right side of the box and fired a shot to far post while on the run from about 15-20 yards away. The ball drilled the post and settled into the six-yard box where Juelle Love was there to easily tap it over the end line. It was the sophomore transfer from Pitt’s second tally of the preseason, and according to Creighton’s fourth-year head coach it was a glimpse of the type of impact Jakubowski and Love are expected to have on the wings of the Bluejay attack.
“They are both dynamic players,” Paule said. “To have multiple threats coming from different sides of the field with the speed they have up top it causes chaos in the back line.”
Junior forward Kylin Grubb capped off the evening with a one-touch redirect of a ball that was played over the top of Missouri Western State’s back line by freshman defender Morgan Szarka near the end of the second period.
Now the Bluejays will wipe the slate clean and head out for the first of five straight road matches to begin the regular season, starting this Sunday with an afternoon tilt against an Iowa Hawkeyes side that went 9-8-2 in 2017, including an impressive 1-0 win over 23rd-ranked Rutgers. No stranger to testing his team’s resolve away from the friendly confines of Morrison Stadium, Ross Paule is once again chomping at the bit to see how comfortable his team is with being uncomfortable.
“Every road game is going to be different,” Paule said. “Every place we go has a different environment and a different style of team that we are playing. What I want to see from our team is the ability to adapt to each new situation and be confident in everything that we believe we are … it’s never easy to play on the road, but I like that.”
The Bluejays and Hawkeyes are set to kick things off at 1:00 p.m. from the Iowa Soccer Complex in Iowa City.