The Creighton women’s soccer team went 1-2 on their three-game, six-day road trip this week. During that stretch the Jays notched their first victory of the season, defeating South Dakota 3-1 on Tuesday. However, they sandwiched that victory with losses to #3 Oklahoma State and Kansas.
In search of their first home win of the season the Jays welcomed the Arizona Wildcats to Morrison Stadium last night. Creighton played their fifth game in nine days, and it may have affected them early as Arizona scored twice in the first 17 minutes to force the Jays to dig out of an early hole. The first of those two goals came in the 13th minute when midfielder Susana Melendez’s shot landed in front of Creighton goalkeeper Katie Jo Swanson, then bounced off the turf over Swanson’s head and into the net.
Arizona didn’t give the Jays much of a chance to respond as they kept up the pressure. Forward Jazmin Ponce unloaded an unchallenged 35-footer over Swanson’s outstretched arms giving Arizona a 2-0 lead with a 28:19 remaining in the first half. Creighton needed an answer and they got it when midfielder Kelsey O’Donnell laced a shot past Wildcat goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman for her first goal as a member of the Creighton Bluejays. The goal cut the Arizona lead to 2-1 with 19:34 remaining in the half.
The Jays then began to put the pressure on Arizona. After getting outshot 9-3 in the first half, the Jays did a much better job of staying in front of Wildcat attackers in the second half. With the defense stepping up Creighton afforded themselves more opportunities on offense. Their best of those opportunities to tie the game came when freshman Alyssa Jara broke free down the left side, but a couple of Arizona defenders were able to cut her angle off and force her shot wide.
Arizona still led 2-1 when Ponce scored her second goal of the game in the 84th minute to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead, and put an emphatic end to Creighton’s comeback. With the loss Creighton dropped to 1-4-1 on the season, and 0-2-1 at home. Arizona improved to 2-2. Creighton gets a much-needed four-day break to regroup before taking on cross-town rival Nebraska-Omaha at the UNO Soccer Field this Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Game Notes: The game against Arizona was senior defender Gabriela Guillen’s second game in as many days. She played 89 minutes for the Costa Rican National Team in an 8-0 loss to the United States National Team. She matched up with Abby Wombach in that game held in Rochester, NY, then flew back to Omaha and played all 90 minutes against Arizona… O’Donnell’s first half goal was the first of her Creighton career… Arizona outshot Creighton 17-8 for the game, including an 11-4 edge in corner kicks… The final attendance was 553.