In sports, and even life for that matter, adapting to your environment and facing adversity tests your focus and composure in tough situations. Both Creighton and Santa Clara had to do that throughout the night on Sunday with the Bluejays walking out of Morrison Stadium with a 1-0 victory and the Bluejays started the season on a great note after the first weekend going 2-0.
The adversity started early in the day when Creighton officials moved up the match an hour to a 6PM local time start due to the pending stormy weather that was expected to go through Omaha. What started as a beautiful day started clouding up at around kickoff. In fact, the match was started at about 10 minutes before 6:00, so that they could get in as much time as they could before the storms arrived.
The first half as a back and forth affair with both teams trying to establish themselves while keeping an eye to the sky. A lot of fouls and delays slowed things down a bit with both teams playing really physical. Creighton struggled a bit in the first half only getting one shot on goal while Santa Clara kept goalie Connor Sparrow busy saving three shots from the Broncos including one right before the end of the first half as lightning filled the surrounding sky as the final 15 seconds ticked down.
Then came the delay. At the half, fans were told to exit Morrison Stadium to their vehicles while some students headed over to Sokol Arena. The crowd in general was significantly smaller than usual, probably because of the pending weather and the time change. But it made for an orderly exit as the storms moved in and the second half still needed to be played at some point, since it requires at least 70 minutes to be considered a full game.
This is where the night got interesting and time for a side-note story.
My son and I were out for the night and were in attendance at the game. We were originally just going to wait it out in our vehicle, but as the storm kept rolling in giving a great light show and periods of pouring rain, it was going to be a while. So we headed down to a nearby Sonic and picked up a couple shakes and popcorn chicken while we tracked when the 2nd half would be played. After about a two and a half hour delay, the second half was about to get underway. Usually, Creighton has a local youth soccer team come in and be ball kids for the games on the sidelines. With the delay and questionable weather, the kids there for Sunday night’s game were sent home. My son turns to me and says “Who will the ball boys be? Are they still here? Do you think we could help?”
Now I’m not totally versed in soccer, but have learned a ton since my son became interested in it a few years ago and also plays on a local youth soccer team. I have watched more soccer than I could imagine over the past six months and even took a trip to Chicago this summer to see his favorite team, Liverpool, play a game. After doing a little checking, Associate Athletic Director Kevin Sarver invited us to the field to help with the ball kid duties for the 2nd half. With a sparse crowd of a few hundred people and a rowdy student section of about that same size, it sounded like fun and gave me a totally different view of the game. After running up and down the sidelines for the first few minutes of the second half, there was a mom with couple of girls that offered to help as well, so I didn’t look like a total fool. (I don’t run smoothly like my son.) That evened things out with two of us on each side and after the night was over, I was definitely seen as the dad of the year.
Anyway, as the second half got underway, both teams had a lot of energy, but sometimes it wasn’t always good. More fouls were called on Santa Clara along with four yellow cards, including one on the Bronco bench. With all of the different things thrown their way with the weather, time change, and the delay, they didn’t adapt was well as the Jays did. It didn’t help them either with the Jay’s Army all over them for the whole second half.
Ricky Lopez-Espin followed up on his performance Friday night against Stanford by getting a great pass from Jose Ribas in the 59th minute to score the deciding goal past a diving Kendall McIntosh. Later in the second half, the Bluejays had another opportunity to score after getting past the defense and McIntosh on the ground one-on-one but he was able to get his head in the way of the shot to deny a second goal. On the other side of the field, Sparrow saved five critical shots on goal by Santa Clara getting his second shutout in as many games. The crowd filed out around 10:30 all smiles after a Creighton victory.
The Bluejays head back to the pitch next Friday night, September 5th as they take on Western Illinois. It will also be a special night with the annual Socctoberfest event. Register now and don’t miss out to celebrate with fellow Bluejay fans.