Fresh off a 2-1 victory over South Dakota State on Wednesday, the Creighton Bluejays (3-6-2) looked to make it two in a row before conference play when they welcomed the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (6-3-2) to Morrison Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Maddie Nelson slides for a ball (Adam Streur/WBR)
Despite playing nearly flawless defense in the first half, the Jays were unable to capitalize on the offensive end of the field. They had a couple of great scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes. Their first really great chance came on freshman defender Jill Richgels’ corner kick in the 20th minute. She sent the ball high and a foot in front of the net, but no Jays attacked the area for the easy header and the ball landed to the right of the goal and rolled out of bounds. In the 32nd minute another freshman almost came through for the CU. Midfielder Alyssa Jara blazed a trail through the Golden Eagle defense, but Oral Roberts goalkeeper Helen Erb made a diving stop to deflect her shot away. Junior midfielder Lauren Cingoranelli was there for the putback, but a host of ORU defenders surrounded her and cleared the ball before she could get a shot off. Creighton outshot the Golden Eagles 9-1 in the first half, and held a 3-0 edge in corner kicks.
In the second half, Oral Roberts was more aggressive with their attack, but the Creighton defense didn’t let up at all. They stayed in position, and continued to disrupt the ORU attack. Unfortunately, for the Bluejays’ offense it was the same story, different verse as they once again couldn’t put away any of their scoring opportunities. A penalty kick by junior forward Kelsey O’Donnell was deflected away by Erb. A shot by freshman midfielder Kaelyn Korte was just wide to left of the net after another scoring opportunity was setup by Jara. In the first overtime period, O’Donnell dribbled up the right side and centered a pass for senior forward Brittney Neumann, but the ORU defense recovered and intercepted the pass right before it got to CU’s leading scorer.
In the second overtime, a misplayed inbounds pass led to a 2-on-1 breakaway for Oral Roberts. Golden Eagles freshman forward Kayla Keller setup junior forward Mary-Kate Halsmer who scored the game-winning goal in the 108th minute despite a diving save attempt by Creighton senior goalkeeper Katie Jo Swanson. The goal gave the Golden Eagles the sudden death victory, and dropped Creighton to 3-6-2 heading into next Saturday’s conference opener against preseason favorite Illinois State.
Game Notes: On the season the Jays have scored 5 goals in just under 600 minutes of game time at Morrison Stadium… Katie Jo Swanson’s two saves today gave her 44 for the season at Morrison Stadium, passing Alicia Montgomery for second place on the single-season list. She needs 16 more saves to set a new Morrison Stadium single-season record, which is currently held by Kristen Casey… Today was Oral Roberts first ever victory over Creighton… Creighton will open conference play Saturday, September 29th at 7 p.m. against Missouri Valley Conference preseason favorite Illinois State… The final attendance was 422.