Jimmy Walker primed his team all week for what he expected to be a stiff first test in Thursday night’s season-opening match at Oklahoma. The second-year Creighton head coach said his team was geared up for a grueling 90 minutes against a physical and athletic Sooner side. For the first 45 minutes, Walker felt like they were passing the test. The second half, however, painted an entirely different picture.
Lexi Dendis, Naomi Clark, and Claire Curran each found the back of the net in a span of five minutes and 43 seconds to turn what was a 1-1 match at halftime into a 4-1 Sooners’ rout. Afterwards, Coach Walker wasn’t in much of a mood for silver linings despite it being the first match of the season.
“I think we got everything right in the first half,” he said. “The game plan going in was absolutely fine, and then we absolutely let ourselves down in the second half. I’m so disappointed in the second half performance.”
Creighton-Oklahoma Match Highlights
Oklahoma got on the board first in the 11th minute when Clark scored the first of her two goals on the night. The Washington State transfer’s header off a free kick from Dendis zipped over Creighton’s back line and under the cross bar to give the Sooners a 1-0 lead.
The Bluejays punched back just before halftime. Freshman forward Jalen Chaney found space along the left side of the 18-yard box and whipped a low shot to the back post. Oklahoma goalkeeper Caroline Duffy knocked it off course, but Creighton junior midfielder Ella Luna was there to knock it in 4:50 left in the opening period.
“Jalen got by her defender and hit a low shot across the goalkeeper — textbook finish,” Walker said. “And Ella was there to tap it in, which gave us a really good talking point at halftime. Then I [expletive] don’t know what happened in the second half. That was Nebraska all over again.”
Walker is referring to last season’s 5-2 loss in Lincoln on September 2. That was the only match last year in which Creighton surrendered more than two goals.
The Jays walked into the locker room in Norman confident after scoring a gritty goal to draw even at the break. You wouldn’t be able to surmise that based on their second half start, though.
Eight and a half minutes in the period, Lexi Dendis put Oklahoma back in front. Two and a half minutes after that, Naomi Clark added her second goal to extend the lead, then three minutes later, Claire Curran punched home another goal to cap off the barrage.
The aspect of the collapse that left Walker most perplexed was the fact that the breakdowns came from a defensive group comprised of seniors and returnees, as opposed to freshmen or first-year transfers.
“We went with a senior-led back line that just didn’t come out of the locker room [after halftime],” Walker said. “It’s shocking. I’m disappointed, because as goes your seniors is as goes your team … the senior leadership has to be better if we want to have successful season. We went with senior group in the second half, and we conceded three goals in six minutes.”
The good news, perhaps, for Creighton (0-1-0) is that won’t have to sit around very long stewing on the lackluster second half. They’re back in action on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (CT) at Kansas City. The Roos dropped their opener 4-0 at the hands of an always strong Saint Louis squad, so it will be a matchup of two teams in search of a “get right” performance to end the opening weekend of the season.