Sven Koenig saves the day again for the Creighton men’s soccer team with the deciding goal (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
No. 24 Georgetown’s road win at Providence earlier in the evening moved them into a tie for first-place in the Big East standings, but their stay was short-lived as 19th-ranked Creighton earned a crucial three points with a 2-1 win over Marquette on Wednesday night at Morrison Stadium to improve to 10-3-2 on the season and 6-0-1 in league play to retake the lead in a tight race for the regular season title.
Senior midfielder and co-captain Joel Rydstrand set up both of Creighton’s goals after head coach Elmar Bolowich moved him up a line into more of an attacking position in order to jump start an offense that hadn’t found the back of the net in over 200 minutes entering the match, but Creighton’s coach wasn’t the only one who shook things up on Wednesday as junior midfielder Ziyad Fares needed only one minute and fifty-eight seconds on the pitch to end a scoring drought at Morrison Stadium that spanned more than two weeks.
The transfer from Yavapai College in Arizona got on the end of a cross from junior forward Luke Haakenson and put just enough pace on his redirect to clear the end line despite a great effort on a near team save by Marquette. Fares’ third goal of the season — his first tally since September 15 — gave the Bluejays a 1-0 lead with 24:30 remaining in the first half. Rydstrand was also credited with an assist on the play as it was his redirect into the box that found Haakenson in behind the Golden Eagles’ back line.
“I wish it would work out all the time, because then we would score more goals off of our substitutions,” Bolowich said of Fares’ instant impact. “Ziyad was a little bit dormant in our last game as well, and I think he saw that on the video. I think he got the message that he needs to be a little more mobile and actually use that to his advantage, because this is his strength; the mobility is his strength.”
Creighton’s attack peppered Marquette senior goalkeeper Luis Barraza over the course of the first 45 minutes to make that 1-0 lead stand at the break. The Bluejays out-shot the Golden Eagles, 12-3, which included a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 3-0 edge in corner kicks.
Marquette started to find a rhythm in the second half and put more pressure on Creighton’s back line. Their improved effort paid off with the equalizer off of a set piece in the 80th minute when junior forward Josh Coan sent a free kick to the far post that found the head of his teammate, junior defender Leo Villa, to tie the match at one goal apiece with 10:35 left in regulation.
“I thought [Marquette] was competing more for the second ball in the midfield,” Bolowich said. “They made it a little bit helter skelter in terms of the attack as they left a lot of attacking players forward, which always kept us at bay in a way. We could really never step the line up fast enough and hard enough, because we had to be cognizant of them winning the ball and then going straight to these guys. Sometimes the rhythm and dynamics just change in games, but I’m happy that our guys adjusted to it.”
Joel Rydstrand set up both goals for the Bluejays on Wednesday night’s win over Marquette (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Up to that point, the Golden Eagles had three shots on frame in the second half to just one for the Bluejays. Rydstrand and the rest of his teammates would only get one more shot on the goal the rest of the match, but they made it count … 34 seconds later, to be exact.
As Marquette tried to play the ball out of their defensive third, junior midfielder Yudai Tashiro raced in to win back the ball. He played it up field to senior forward Sven Koenig, who then connected a pass to Rydstrand in the box. Rydstrand took a couple touches forward, dropped it back off to Koenig, and the senior from Westhofen, Germany blasted it into the back of the net for the go-ahead goal.
“I saw Sven very early on the back post and he’s better at shooting than me, so it was better to give him the ball,” Rydstrand said. “It always shuts them down if you can respond real quick. They kind of got the momentum a little bit, but if we can shove it right back to them it gives a little more time and space to get the victory. We really needed to not play an overtime this game so we can rest up for DePaul on Saturday.”
Koenig’s tally was the 10th of his career as a Bluejay and his third game-winner of the season. It gave Creighton a three-point lead over Georgetown with two matches remaining in the regular season, including one against the Hoyas at Morrison Stadium next Wednesday on Halloween night. The second-year transfer from Hawaii Pacific knows his college career is winding down, but Creighton’s leading goal-scorer on the year isn’t putting any extra pressure on himself for the stretch run.
“For us it’s really about winning the games,” he said after the match. “It didn’t work out the last two games, and it was important to get back on track. We’re not looking at the RPI right now. We’re just looking at the games and trying to win the games. That’s all we can do right now. We are in a good position. We can win the Big East, and with this win today we made another step. Now we have to close out the season.”
The Bluejays will return to the pitch on Saturday, October 27 when they take on the Blue Demons at Wish Field in Chicago, Illinois. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcasted on Big East Digital Network.
