For much of the second half it looked like a Marquette goal was brewing, but Creighton flipped the switch just in time and sophomore midfielder Daniel Espeleta was in the right place at the right time to score his first collegiate goal in the 86th minute to lift the Bluejays to a 1-0 win in their Big East opener at Valley Fields in Milwaukee.
“The teams across the Big East have shown that the league is on the up and up, so for us to be able to come on the road and get three points against a very good team like Marquette is only going to help us with our cohesiveness and our team unity, and we’re going to continue to grow,” Creighton head coach Johnny Torres said.
Redshirt senior goalkeeper Collin Valdivia stepped into the starting lineup once again for the injured Paul Kruse and made a career-high eight saves to post the first clean sheet of his five-year career as a Bluejay.
More and more as the match wore on it appeared as if Marquette (2-3-1) was growing in confidence and starting to create dangerous chances, but redshirt freshman center back Luke Mitchell made some salty plays defensively, while Valdivia stone-walled the Golden Eagles time and again — including a superb kick save on a point blank shot by Lukas Sunesson in the 73rd minute — to keep the match knotted at zeroes.
“I’m really proud of Mitchell,” Torres said. “He came in and stepped up big again for us as a freshman, and Collin had a hell of a game between the posts and helped us get our first shutout of the year with some pretty damn good saves.
“We want to make sure that our organization and our defensive shape are staples of our success this year, and I thought the guys did a good job executing our defensive scheme tonight.”
Valdivia’s big play was the last time he was truly tested on the evening as Creighton started to connect better in the midfield and make more dynamic runs in the final third to flip the pressure onto Marquette’s defensive half over the final 15-20 minutes.
Finally, with 4:59 left on the clock, the Bluejays broke through. A combination play between redshirt freshman Dominic Briggs and senior Younes Boudadi was the catalyst for the eventual game-winning goal. It started with Briggs drawing a pair of defenders, then flicking a ball forward as Boudadi came in around him, and served it into the box with his right foot where Espeleta was waiting, unmarked, on the far post for the one-timer.
That sequence capped off a stretch of just over 10 minutes of play where Creighton out-shot Marquette 5-1.
“I thought the game opened up and became a little bit of a track meet,” Torres said. “Both teams were going for it, which was good to see. I think we came alive a little bit towards the latter part of the game with Younes and [junior Musa Qongo] coming around the edges and doing a good job as we were getting to the end line, and continuing to squeeze and try to keep the ball in their half.”
With the road win on Friday night, the Bluejays improved to 4-2-1 on the season and 1-0-0 in Big East play. They’ll head home to Omaha and step back out of league play for a non-conference tilt against Tulsa (3-3-0) on Tuesday, September 24. That match is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff at Morrison Stadium.
