Seton Hall came to Omaha on a four-match unbeaten streak that included results against conference table-setters Georgetown and Xavier. Creighton poured ice cold water on the hot streak on Thursday night behind the playmaking of emerging star forward Anja Jestrovic. The reigning Big East Freshman of the Week notched an assist to cap off a museum-worthy combination in the 10th minute and later a goal in the 57th minute to cap a 2-0 win over the Pirates. CU’s second win in a row moves them to 4-7-4 overall and 2-5-0 in Big East play as they try to make a late push for a spot in the 2023 Big East Tournament.
“We wanted to come into the game and really put in on our players to try to get a goal first, which we haven’t been able to do,” Creighton head coach Ross Paule said. “Overall, I’m very pleased with the team. It was a good game for us to build on. Something we’ve been really focused on is the attacking third and the defensive third. Putting the ball in the back of the net relieves a lot of pressure off of you and you can continue to play instead of having to chase the game.”
Lara Kazandjian got the scoring started for the Jays (Spomer / WBR)
Creighton was playing into a roughly 15 mile-per-hour wind in the first half, but they built up their attack through the midfield with the ground attack instead of playing through ball over the top. After taking the first two shots of the match, the Bluejays broke through on their third attempt with picturesque combination in the 10th minute. Senior co-captain center back Peighton Steffen started with a ball out of the back to Azumi Manriki. The junior midfielder took a couple touches and connected with freshman midfielder Teija Murray-Powell, who played a ball up to fellow freshman Anja Jestrovic, who sent a cross to the left side of the box for Lara Kazandjian to run onto to it and punch it home for her first goal of the season, giving CU an early 1-0 lead over the Pirates.
“A beautiful goal,” Paule said. “I just sat there and smiled on the bench because it was a team goal and there were a lot of special plays within it.”
The fact that Kazandjian scored it wasn’t lost on Paule either. The dynamic midfielder has drilled a lot of woodwork this season, but prior to her cross-body strike 9:30 into the match on Thursday, she had been held out of the scoring column on the season despite her best efforts.
“I’ve been telling her after every game that it’s coming,” Paule said. “She’s put herself in some great spots and she’s been unlucky in some ways. She just needed to be more balanced and that was a balanced shot. She got herself balanced, she got her footwork right, and after the game today I told her a lot more are coming. She’s getting in too many good positions not to score more goals.”
Seton Hall could only manage to fire off two total shots with the wind at their back in the first half. Neither of them made senior goalkeeper Keelan Terrell nervous for even a second as they both bounced wide over the end line to her left for goal kicks. Creighton lost control of the possession battle midway through the first half, but they regained it late to create a few more chances in the attacking third before the break. The Jays ended the opening 45 minutes with a 5-2 edge in total shots and 3-0 lead in shots on goal.
After halftime, Jestrovic extended Creighton’s lead to 2-0 with 33:02 left in the match as she settled a ball in the box, took a couple touches to her right, and banged home her second goal of the season to put her at six points through five her first five career matches after she missed the first six weeks of the season with an injury.
“The thing with Anja is she’s a complete nine,” Paule said. “She’s very smart in her movements up top, so she’s putting herself in spots to hold the ball, which allows our 10’s to get underneath and our sevens and 11’s to get higher. That allows us to play on their half of the field. That’s a massive difference that she’s made so far of holding onto the ball and allowing us to get more players in the attack.
“That’s why she’s here. We know she can finish. She will score a lot of goals here at Creighton.”
The Bluejays finished Thursday night’s win with a convincing 15-6 edge in shots and held Seton Hall to only one shot on goal over the course of 90 minutes — their fewest shots on frame since September 29 of last year. The resulted gives Creighton six points in conference play with three matches remaining. They currently sit in a tie for eighth place with Butler, one point behind Marquette and St. John’s and two points behind the Pirates. They get a bye on Sunday and return to action in search of their third straight win when they travel to DePaul next Thursday.
“If we continue to do what we’re trying to do as a team and really be loyal to who we are and believe in it, it’s going to come out and it’s going to get right,” Paule said. “These last two games it’s been right, but it’s not something that’s going to just happen again. You have to continue to fight for that. That’s something we know as a team. We don’t take this for granted. We have two wins in a row, but we are going to fight for the third.”