Thursday, August 24: #7 Stanford 3, #8 Creighton 1
Fresh off a resurgent 2022 season that culminated in the program’s first College Cup appearance since 2012, Johnny Torres set up a heavyweight fight for his Creighton squad on day one against a perennial national title contender in Stanford. The Cardinal and Bluejays teed off college soccer’s only top 10 showdown of opening day at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium in Stanford, California. After 90 minutes, Stanford emerged with the victory thanks to a pair of early first-half goals by sophomore midfielders Shane de Flores and Zach Bohane, and a 66th-minute icer by highly touted freshman forward Duncan Jarvie.
Creighton shrugged off the early punch from the Cardinal and started to climb its way out of the hole as the first half wore on. The Bluejays produced four corner kicks in a span of just over three minutes and cashed one in just before halftime on a 42nd-minute goal by senior forward Alfie Pope. Creighton tried to capitalize on that late momentum out of the break, but Stanford’s defense held up against a couple chances in the initial 10 minutes before Jarvie padded the lead with 24:18 left in the match.
“I thought Stanford did a good job being disruptive and pressuring us in the first half,” Creighton head coach Johnny Torres said. “We didn’t deal very well with it at first, but late in that first half we started to put together some good fútbol, which was the main factor in us being able to pull one back. Then as you know, the game opens up when you’re trying to chase the game and they were able to get one more on us to put it out of reach.
“We were a little bit sluggish on second opportunities and second balls. They might have been a little better than us in that regard. Nonetheless, I thought the guys did a good job of battling.”
Total shots were 19-7 and shots on target ended up at 8-4, both in favor of Stanford. Creighton finished with an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks.
Sunday, August 27: #8 Creighton 0, UC Irvine 0
The Jays dusted themselves off from Thursday’s season-opening setback with a more even, consistent performance on the defensive side. While they didn’t find a way to put one in the back of the net, they did get the first clean sheet of the season thanks to fantastic goalkeeping by Nathan Schnur. The junior out of Evergreen, Colorado tallied a season-high six saves, including a pair in the box about 60 seconds apart on a counterattack by the Anteaters. The second shutout of Schnur’s college career helped the Bluejays bring a result back to Omaha as they get ready for their home opener on Friday, September 1 against Grand Canyon.
“When it comes down to recruiting for goalkeepers, we always talk about how you want to find the ones that will make the saves that they are supposed to make and then a handful on top of those that they are not supposed to make to keep us in a game,” Torres said. “Nate did that today. He had a pretty good performance in goal and helped us have an opportunity to come out with a point.”
Putting aside his disappointment with coming up short on the winning side of the ledger in both matches, Torres is optimistic that the tough test to start the season will have a positive impact on the team’s bigger picture goals.
“I would argue that are game against Stanford on that day was probably the hardest game in the country when you look at the two pairings. That builds character to be able to go out there and play against some of the best in the country with UC Irvine being another very good program. I hope it brings cohesiveness to the group. I hope it brings us tighter and teaches us to lean on one another for help. I think these types of games are only going to make us stronger as we go through the season and into postseason play.”