Sven Koenig scored an insurance goal in Creighton’s 2-0 victory Friday night (Streur / WBR)
A brilliant effort play by junior midfielder Luke Haakenson and another strong defensive performance allowed Creighton to seize control against Memphis in the second half for a 2-0 win in front of a Socctoberfest crowd of 4,367 at Morrison Stadium on Friday night.
For the first 45 minutes, the Bluejays struggled to find space to create scoring chances. After Memphis produced a 7-4 edge in total shots, Creighton felt fortunate to still be at 0-0 going into the break.
“I thought in the first half we really struggled a little bit containing these guys,” Bolowich said. “They brought a lot of energy and looked for their opportunity here to take something with them, and they almost got that. I was actually happy going into the half 0-0 in the sense that we didn’t get scored on.”
Some adjustments in the locker room at halftime allowed Creighton to stretch out Memphis’ defense more in the second half produce opportunities that led to Haakenson’s strike in the 62nd minute and another score for good measure by senior forward Sven Koenig in the 83rd minute to seal the deal.
“In the first half, we sort of jammed it all in the middle mostly and our wide players were too far inside, so that made it easier for them to defend us,” Bolowich said. “We had fewer gaps to find holes for [midfielder Joel Rydstrand] or [forward Sven Koenig] to get the ball. In the second period, we said when we are going into the final third you guys need to go wide, the flank players, and that created a lot more space underneath to get in on them in terms of coming now coming throught the middle where you have more gaps.”
While Koenig’s goal to salt it away was a beautiful display of team effort that led to a three-way combination in the run of play, Haakenson’s game-winner was the result of what his head coach called a “tremendous individual effort” to help the Jays finally break through against an organized and athletic defensive unit.
Haakenson chased down a ball that looked to be headed harmlessly for the end line and a Memphis goal kick, but Haakenson — relying on some fundamentals from training — chased it down, kept it in play, cut in across a Memphis defender, drew out the goalkeeper and placed it by him to give his team the lead midway through the second. And, according to the Maple Grove, Minnesota native, it all started with a signal.
Great communication on the field helped Akeem Ward (pictured) get the ball to Luke Haakenson who made an amazing play (Streur / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
“Me and [senior defender Akeem Ward] have a signal,” Haakenson said, vaguely. “I’m not going to tell you what it is, but we have a signal, and I know as soon as he gets the ball, where he’s going to put it, and at that time it’s up to me to battle and dig it out. I saw it going to the end line and I saw the guy starting to slow down, and as soon as I see a center back starting to slow that’s when I know I can make my move past him. I did that, the goalie came out, and I slid is past him.
“I’ve always been taught that as soon as the ball is going to the end line and you see that defender slow down, that’s when you can make your move. I saw him start to slow down, he thought it was out and I didn’t think it was, so I made the play and it worked. You play until the ball goes out of bounds.”
Defensively, the Jays held serve as they improved to 3-1-1 on the season. Memphis out-shot CU, 11-10, for the match, but only three of those shots were on frame, and all were stifled by freshman goalkeeper Paul Kruse.
Creighton’s defense helped Paul Kruse to another clean sheet for the Bluejays (Streur / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
“I thought we were very organized defensively,” Bolowich said. “We didn’t give them any open looks. Paul Kruse had to make one save, which he did. That was a little bit of a dicey situation where they beat two or three of our guys and came in and took a shot, but other than that I thought we did a good solid job defensively.”
The clean sheet extended Creighton’s scoreless streak at Morrison Stadium to 450:54, which is their longest stretch without allowing a goal at home since 2015 when they had run of 583:08 that helped them start the season 15-0-0 and rise to the top spot in the national rankings. The Bluejays will continue to chase down that mark when they return to their friendly confines to officially kick-off the Big East portion of their schedule against a Butler side that has already drawn even at #4 Akron and posted a 2-0 win at #16 Western Michigan so far this fall. The Jays and ‘Dawgs are set to get underway at Morrison Stadium at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 15th.
See Photos from the game courtesy of WBR photographer Adam Streur