It’s becoming a vicious cycle. Creighton creates more scoring opportunities, dominates possession, and swallows a bitter pill in the end. Big East play has taught the Bluejays the same lesson over the years, and did it again on Saturday afternoon as Providence emerged with a 2-1 victory at Morrison Stadium despite being out-shot 25-9 and watching CU build up a 12-1 advantage in corner kicks over the course of 90 minutes with only one goal to show for it.
“It was super frustrating,” senior center back Jaylin Bosak said. “We had 25 shots to nine, and at the end of the game the coach for Providence even admitted that we deserved to win. We obviously outplayed them the whole time. We just couldn’t finish our chances.”
A frustrating, yet familiar feeling for a Creighton program that has played the “close, but not quite” game more times than they care to count. Last October in their home finale, they out-shot Marquette 20-14 and settled for a 0-0 draw, then blew a 2-0 second-half lead at Providence when a win would have put them in the Big East Tournament for the first time. Their last four results this season have been more of the same. They had a lead at Marquette, missed a penalty kick to extend it, and eventually settled for a 2-2 draw. They dominated possession against Butler, and out-shot the Bulldogs 14-10, then lost 1-0 in overtime. They had a 2-0 halftime lead at 10th-ranked Georgetown, then watched that disappear in the second half to settle for another draw. That was the three-game punch in the gut tour Creighton had been on heading into Saturday.
“We’ve seen this game before,” Creighton head coach Ross Paule said. “We’ve given away points and we did it again. In the Big East, where every game matters, these points hurt.”
Skylar Heinrich’s 10th goal of the season wasn’t enough for the Jays on Saturday (Juszyk / WBR)
The Bluejays (7-6-2, 1-3-2 Big East) carried some momentum into halftime after freshman forward Skylar Heinrich gave them a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute for her 10th goal of the season.
See Ken Juszyk’s photos from the game along with Senior Day activities.
Providence forward Hannah McNulty didn’t give Creighton much time to build that lead out of the locker room as she beat goalkeeper Keelan Terrell with a header in the 50th minute to tie things up, then gave her team the lead with the eventual game-winner 4 minutes and 30 seconds later. The rest of the match sat squarely on the shoulders of Friars goalkeeper Shelby Hogan. The redshirt junior from Franklin, Massachusetts turned away Creighton scoring chances in the 51st, 52nd, 59th, 62nd, 70th, 76th (twice), 77th, 84th, and 88th minute on her way to a season-high 12 saves.
“Their goalkeeper was ridiculous,” Paule said. “She was amazing. She put on a performance today that won them the game.”
Creighton’s fifth-year head coach knows admits his team has been shaken up by their recent stretch of results, but he remained confident after the match that his team dust themselves off and focus on the next opportunity.
“The bottom line is we know that we’ve given away points,” Paule said. “We are going to wake up tomorrow morning because we know that we are good enough to do it. We are better than our record, but our record is our record. That’s a reality, but they’re going to be ready. And I have no doubt that we can win these three games. I have no doubt. We are going to go into it with that mentality, because that’s the culture that we have here. I hope that these kids get the success that they deserve.”
As a team, the Jays will need to rally during the final regular season games (Jusyzk / WBR)
Creighton has five points in the Big East standings with six matches in the books. Road games at Seton Hall and St. John’s, along with one final home date with Villanova await them to wrap up the regular season. Nine points will put them in position to earn one of the final spots into the six-team, single-elimination conference tournament. Two wins and a draw or a loss will likely produce another “close, but not quite” moment.
“People need to realize that we can do it,” Bosak said. “With previous teams I don’t know if it would have been possible. We can do this. We can win out the last three games that we have. We have to win out. It’s not an option.”