You only get one chance to make a first impression and the newcomers on the Creighton women’s soccer team made the most of theirs during the first week of preseason workouts for the 2016 season. They showed up in shape and put that on display during the second day of practice with the first round of fitness testing followed by 10 v 10 team scrimmage.
Their first performance in uniform in front of their home fans at Morrison Stadium was also an impressive one as freshmen Hannah Miller, Caeley Lordemann, Kylin Grubb, and Cassie Legband accounted for all five goals scored in the intrasquad on Friday night, won by the White team, 3-2. Miller scored the first two goals for the White squad before Legband notched the game-winner to break a 2-2 tie in the 86th minute.
“The very large class that we have coming in is a very good group to work with,” second-year head coach Ross Paule said. “The full group is a good foundation to build on. Knowing that we have our four seniors — Darby [Hugunin] is a redshirt junior right now, but I consider her one of the seniors — those four have to be the core of the leadership and show [the younger players] what it takes.”
There are 16 new faces in all — 14 freshman and two junior transfers — from Omaha to Brazil. The two incoming transfers are Gabriela Braga and Mackenzie Graybill. Braga is a 5’1″ speedy left back from Brazil. Graybill is a 5’9″ center back from NC State. Both aced their fitness tests during the first go around and figure to make an impact in the back line.
Jaylin Bosak, goalkeeper McKenzie Meola, and Legband represent Omaha in blue and white, while Gretna High School standout Callie Hawkins rounds out the four Nebraska natives in the freshman class.
Wisconsin product Elizabeth Bolland joins Meola as incoming freshman goalkeepers, and are expected to battle with sophomore Erin Scott, last year’s starter, for the starting gig behind Graybill, Braga, and Grubb, a Missouri native who Paule is hoping to convert from forward to center back with Braga on the left side of the Bluejay defense.
Adding some scoring punch are two talented strikers from Illinois in Taryn Jakubowski and Ashleigh Cearlock. They’ll fight with fellow freshman Hannah Miller and sophomore Kaira Houser for playing time up top to help counter opposing defenses who are sure to devote a lot of attention to senior forward Lauren Sullivan, who led the team in goals scored last season.
The new faces vying for major minutes in key roles would suggest that some good players may be left out when the dust settles, but Sullivan sees that as something the team can use in a positive manner.
“If anything it motivates the older players to fight for each minute we have on the field,” the senior forward said. “We have a lot of girls coming in, and not only that, but it’s a lot of talent. It’s not just bodies. They’ve got the stuff to back it up.
“We need to put a good foot forward and lead them to where they need to be, and they need to push us, too. It’s an equal responsibility even though we are obviously the leaders on this team because we’ve been here longer, but I’m really excited. It’s nice to have new faces, and they are all so obnoxiously excited.”
Growing pains are to be expected with a large group of newcomers, but that didn’t alter the head coach’s message on day one when the team reported to campus.
“I told them in our first meeting yesterday every single thing we did last year has to be better,” Paule said. “From what we did on the field, from our overall record, from our goals for or goals against, from our Big East record, from not making the tournament — all those things on the field have to be better, and there are lots of things that we have to do better.”
Creighton finished 10-10-0 overall in Paule’s first season at the helm, but they dropped their final five matches of the season to finish 2-7-0 in conference play. They missed out on qualifying for the Big East Tournament for the third year in a row, and allowed a league-worst 27 goals, 16 more than they produced on offense, and six more goals allowed than the next worst team last-place Villanova. Those results became clear areas that needed improving. In his second year leading the program, Paule is confident the new additions will help the team make big strides in each of those areas.
“We have to be better overall as a group, technically,’ Paule added. “We have to have more depth, which we’ve done — we have much more depth this year. There is competition for spots on the field. There is competition for playing time. There is competition to dress for a game. There is competition for traveling. There is competition for individual positions. That’s a huge step in the right direction and that was big focus for us.”
Paule’s new Jays will get their first test against a Division 1 opponent when they travel to Lawrence, Kansas on Friday for an exhibition game against the Jayhawks.