In search of their first win since September 19 of last year, a 2-1 result over South Dakota State, the Creighton women’s soccer team will welcome the University of North Dakota to Morrison Stadium for the 2013 home opener (5 p.m.).
Injuries, illness, and allowing three early goals in a season-opening loss at Utah State and two late, back-breaking goals in the loss at Boise State has head coach Bruce Erickson tinkering with the lineup.
For North Dakota we can expect to see new faces in new places. An injury to sophomore fullback Jill Richgels has forced some changes in the back four. Emily Roll will move from right back to center back. Angela Benson will drop down from her usual midfield spot to play the position Roll vacated. It also appears that Madelyn Buckner’s transition to defensive mid will be put on hold until Richgels can play the type of minutes in the back that she did last season. Freshman Ylenia Sachau, who started the season at center back alongside senior Kelsey O’Donnell, is expected to see playing time in the midfield role.
On the offensive side of things Paige Jarsombeck’s efforts so far will earn her another start at the center forward spot. The true freshman got her first collegiate start on Sunday, and took advantage by scoring the equalizer in the 82nd minute at Boise State. It’s Creighton’s lone goal of the season thus far.
“Paige has a presence, and she’s really done an exceptional job,” Erickson said. “That whole goal was on effort. ‘Salsa’ (Alissa Kohmetscher) ran down a ball that a player thought was going out of bounds, stole it from her, and Paige made a great run and did what she had to do to get the ball in the net. Those are the kind of goals we need to score more of.”
Despite the struggles the team experienced with getting results out of the attack last season, scoring just one goal in two games has not created a mental block or a sense of desperation.
“I think we’re still trying to get chemistry with the offense and with the team,” Jarsombeck said. “I think it’s really improving, and will continue to improve with each game.”
Spacing appeared to be what led to the late goal in the loss to the Broncos on Sunday, and as a result the team spent time focusing on that.
“I think against Boise we got caught up in the speed of transition. We had so many players pushed up trying to get the equalizer, and they had a bunch of people coming at us and we only had three back at the time,” said senior Kelsey O’Donnell.
Although she has a young team around, the sting of last season has left little room for patience with the senior co-captain.
“I think it’s taken a few too many times for us to learn from those mistakes, but I’m confident after what our team did this week in practice, so I’m hoping this weekend it’s better.”
North Dakota will also be looking for their first win since last September when they defeated, coincidentally, South Dakota State by a 3-1 score back on Sep. 9. They dropped games to Xavier and Akron by three goals each to begin their 2013 season. Despite North Dakota’s struggles, Erickson sees a team that will present a tough challenge for his young club, especially with the heat wave Omaha has seen throughout the week.
“It’s going to take a big time performance from both teams to battle the elements. It’s going to be hot and that’s never easy to play in,” he said. “It’s going to be a battle. They are a blue collar team that works hard. They had two tough results on the road, but we just have to have our players prepared for it to be a battle.”