Creighton soccer fans got their first up-close look at the Jimmy Walker Era on Wednesday night at Morrison Stadium. The first 60 or so minutes provided plenty of reasons for enthusiasm, while the final 30 minutes produced a few to make folks want to cover their eyes, including Walker and his first-year staff on the sideline.
In their first preseason tune-up at South Dakota on Saturday, the Bluejays, according to Walker, did not surrender a single shot during their run of play, but were less clinical with their own chances in the final third. Against South Dakota State on Wednesday night, it was a complete role reversal. The offense produced three goals on their first five shots of the match and looked on their way to a statement-making performance. Their level dropped off dramatically on the defensive side of the pitch, however, forcing the Jays to extend the minutes of several key contributors in order to preserve a 3-2 win against the Jackrabbits.
“We talked a lot this week about getting better in the attacking third, which is what we did,” Walker said. “But when we get better in the attacking third, what we’ve also got to do is defend well. On Saturday, we defended really, really well. We created a lot of chances, but we didn’t have that edge in front of goal. And then today we had the edge in front of goal, but then when we got the lead, we lost our edge defensively. We’ve got to kind of put it all together. We’ve got to get the offense and the defense going on the same day and then that’s when you get your 3-nil win.”
Creighton’s attack was mostly neutralized in the first half. Despite controlling possession, they were only able to produce four shots in the first 45 minutes. However, when the Jays were given windows to be dangerous, they did not miss. Sophomore forward Clara Kulick capitalized on the first one to give CU a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. The scoring sequence started with a corner kick by senior midfielder Lara Kazandjian. Xavier transfer, and Omaha Marian product, Mallory Connealy settled it and fired a hard shot off a Jackrabbit defender before Kulick slid in on the far post for the redirect.
Maddie Radke helped get things going on the 2nd goal of the evening (Spomer / WBR)
The second goal came towards the tail end of the opening period when seniors Maddie Radke and Ariana Mondiri hooked up on the right side of the pitch. Radke produced one of her patented pinpoint services from distance, Mondiri settled it with her chest just inside the 18-yard box, then quickly banged it in the back of the net to extend Creighton’s lead to 2-0 in the 42nd minute.
Creighton’s final tally of the match came about quickly into the second half as Kulick’s goal to kickstart the scoring in the first. The sophomore from Aurora, Colorado was the catalyst once again as she settled a long ball into the box and flicked it through South Dakota State’s back line where sophomore midfielder Anja Jestrovic was waiting patiently to finish it off for the commanding 3-0 lead.
Creighton was one of only two squads to shutout the reigning Summit League champs last season and it appeared that they were on their way to doing it again. The Jackrabbits — who return a ton of experience and production from last season’s NCAA Tournament team — weren’t going to concede defeat that easily. Two goals and a several more pressure-packed moments later, the Bluejays walked off their home field with plenty to learn from in a quality preseason win.
As disappointed as he was in his team’s overall intensity for the full 90 minutes, Walker shifted some of the responsibility for the final 30 onto himself after the match.
“We talked at halftime about coming out and getting that third goal and I said to them, ‘If you get the third goal, their heads will drop.’ I probably worded that incorrectly because I basically said if you get the third goal, it’s game over. But you can’t stop playing, and that’s what we did. We got the third goal and thought oh, they’re just going to stop playing and they didn’t do that, so we made that way more difficult than we needed to.
“Even me as a coach it’s preseason for me as well. I have to tactically be better where I’m not pushing my wingbacks on at 3-nil up ever. We’re going to sit back, we’re going to make sure we don’t concede, and we’re going to defend better. I’ve got to be sharper with that even as a coach in preseason because I should have made that transition a bit quicker.”
The Bluejays will be back in action on Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. when they host city rival Omaha in their final exhibition match of the preseason.