Sven Koenig beat the goalie for two goals on Tuesday night (Streur / WBR)
A mismatch on paper turned into a bit of a nail-biter at Morrison Stadium on Tuesday night as the 9th-ranked Creighton men’s soccer team handed Jacksonville their eighth loss in nine matches. Senior forward Sven Koenig scored twice for the Bluejays after halftime and it proved to be enough to earn a 2-1 result to kickoff a three-match stretch at their friendly confines after they returned from a 1-0 win at Villanova on Saturday.
Creighton finished with lopsided 23-5 advantage in total shots that included a 9-3 edge in shots on frame, but it took awhile for that to produce an advantage on the scoreboard.
“Jacksonville was inspired,” Creighton coach Elmar Bolowich said. “They love playing here and they brought a lot of energy … they just came off of a win to kind of salvage their season and they were highly motivated. We had to find a way to break them down. The superiority in shots and all of that ball possession really wasn’t telling us anything until after the half.”
The lack of scoring chances early on was equal parts Jacksonville’s ability to snuff out Creighton’s dangerous opportunities, plus a lack of patience and decisiveness in the attacking third.
“It was tight and they are athletic,” Bolowich said. “It was more about what are why deciding to do? It was more about the decisions and the discipline to make the hard runs to break them, to get behind them, and to get clearer scoring opportunities. I thought we made it way too hard on ourselves. We played a little bit undisciplined in the final third.”
Kuba Polat kept the ball in bounds to get to Koenig for the first goal (Streur / WBR)
It didn’t take too long for Creighton’s mounting control of possession to pay off as Koenig won a challenge in the box, turned toward the goal and slotted a ball into the lower left corner to beat Jacksonville goalkeeper Matt Levy for a 1-0 advantage in the 60th minute. The senior from Westhofen, Germany found the back of the net again just over 10 minutes later when sophomore midfielder Kuba Polat played a ball over the back line, but just shy of the 18-yard box. Koenig and Levy raced to it, but Levy hesitated at the last second, which allowed Koenig to chip it past him and stroll in for an empty-netter in the 72nd minute.
“I was just going for the ball and the next thing I knew, I looked and the goalie was behind me and the ball was in front of me,” Koenig said. “That was pure luck. It was a 50/50 ball.”
Whether it was more about being lucky or just opportunistic, Koenig’s final tally of the night — and fifth of the season — proved to be vital for the Jays as Jacksonville cut the deficit in half on a set piece less than five minutes later — the first goal allowed by the Jays since September 3 at South Florida — and had a couple dangerous chances down the stretch to potentially send the match to overtime.
“I thought they were really dangerous on their restarts, serving those balls in,” Bolowich said. “We usually have it covered with our zone marking, but today we were just not competing hard enough. As a result, they had a little bit of a showing and deservedly got a goal.”
Creighton was just sharp enough on defense in the end to secure their fifth consecutive win and improve to 6-1-1 on the season. They’ll jump back into Big East play for a home match against Seton Hall on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and an undefeated and 4th-ranked Denver squad on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to complete the home stand before hitting the road for three straight against St. John’s, Xavier, and Akron to get into the teeth of October. The home matches won’t make for a walk in the park, but the road slate that follows make it all the more important that the Jays make the time on their home pitch count.
“We need to take care of business,” Bolowich said. “While we are at home we need to take care of business so we have a better cushion going on the road.”