Reigning Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year Brooke Heidemann scored the go-ahead goal in the 87th minute to lead the Boise State Broncos (1-1-0) to a 2-1 victory over the Creighton women’s soccer team on Sunday afternoon at the Boas Tennis and Soccer Complex.
The two teams were locked in a scoreless match until near the end of the first half when Boise State senior midfielder Rebe Wolverton came into the game and launched a shot into the upper right corner of the net from about 40 yards out. For the senior out of Portland, Ore., it was her sixth career goal, and first since Sep. 16 of last year. It gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead heading to halftime and ended Bluejay keeper Danielle Rice’s chance at her first collegiate shutout. After stopping four shots in Friday’s season opener at Utah State, the true freshman out of Texas bested that with five saves in the first half alone against Boise State.
The Bluejays (0-2-0) still trailed by that same score as the game entered the final 10 minutes. Then a scramble in front of the Boise State led to the tying goal for Creighton when sophomore Alissa Kohmetscher found Paige Jarsombeck for a tap in as the Bluejay pressure paid off. The tying goal came in the 82nd minute; it was the first collegiate goal for Jarsombeck, a freshman out of Tinley Park, Ill.
That seemingly game-changing momentum would not last long, however, as an old weakness crept up to doom the Jays again. One of the main reasons for the Creighton’s struggles last season was their mistakes in the late moments of halves. Despite giving up early goals in scrimmages against Arkansas, North Dakota State, and the season opener against Utah State, this Creighton squad had been at their best in crunch time of those games, evidenced by Danielle Rice’s zero goals allowed in the second half of all three scrimmages and the one regular season game she had under her belt.
That would not be the case on this day.
After Wolverton’s long goal in the final five minutes of the first half, Boise State sophomore Brooke Heidemann got possession on a breakaway and scored the deciding goal with 3:33 remaining. Two goals on the day, both scored with about three and half minutes left in each half. Those back-breaking goals send the Bluejays back to Omaha with an 0-2 record on their season-opening road trip.
The team will now return home and enjoy some home-cooking for the next month as they play seven of their next eight games at home beginning with an Aug. 30 match against North Dakota at 5 p.m.
