In her final year of a college soccer career that has experienced more losing than winning, Taryn Jakubowski wasn’t going to trade any moment of her team’s 4-1 start to the season for better-looking statistics. But at the end of the day, Creighton’s senior co-captain felt that she could be doing more to help her team succeed.
That led the First Team All-Big East midfielder to put in as much extra work as she could in between classes and practice during the past week, and on Sunday it produced results as she buried the ball in the back of the net in the 25th and 85th minute to lead the Bluejays (5-1-0) to a 3-1 win over an Oklahoma side that was receiving votes entering Sunday afternoon’s match at Morrison Stadium.
For the Lake in the Hills, Illinois native it was her third career multi-goal effort, and it helped the CU get off to its best start through six matches since 2014.
“I think she has been Taryn the whole time and what I’ve loved is that we haven’t seen her have that success yet,” Creighton head coach Ross Paule said. “I actually thought that this morning. We have players on this team that are scoring the goals, but we also have players waiting in the wings that can do the same. She did it today. Confident finishes, amazing finishes. Through hard work and determination.”
Freshman forward Skylar Heinrich lit up the scoreboard first for the Jays with her seventh goal of the season, finishing a precision feed from sophomore midfielder Ansley Atkinson to put the home team in front 1-0 in the 17th minute.
“Ansley has that quality,” Paule said. “You can put her anywhere on the field and she is confident on the ball. She does things on the ball that not many women do. She has that little cheekiness about her — what a great ball. And the awareness of Skylar to make a dynamic run in behind and get the finish.”
Not long after Atkinson set up Heinrich it was the star freshman’s turn to pay it forward to create for someone around her. In the 25th minute, with the ball at her feet, she heard a familiar scream and flicked a ball forward to Taryn Jakubowski, who was streaking through the middle of the pitch just beyond the 18-yard box. Jakubowski settled the ball with her left foot, split Oklahoma’s center backs with a couple of touches, and beat the keeper near post with her right foot as her momentum brought her to the turf.
“I saw her hand up and heard her screaming,” Heinrich said. “She’s a loud player — if she knows she’s open, she wants it. I knew there were three players on her, but with her strength there was no way they were going to be able to hold her off the ball. She fought off all three of them and I slotted it through and knew she was going to get there … it was a really spectacular [finish].”
Four minutes later, sophomore goalkeeper Katie Sullivan made what would prove to be a crucial save when she stuffed a penalty kick by Oklahoma forward Kaylee Dao, then corralled the ball as it bounced back off the post before an opportunistic Sooner could chip it in.
That preserved the two-goal lead into halftime, and Creighton would soon need every bit of that cushion as Oklahoma (4-2-2) turned up the pressure in the second half and eventually found the back of the net when senior midfielder Kristina O’Donnell, the younger sister of former Creighton center back Kelsey O’Donnell, redirected a service from the left side of the field and beat Sullivan far post to cut CU’s lead in half with 28:41 remaining.
While the Sooners were pressing for the equalizer, the Bluejays abandoned their ground game and looked for balls over the top to try to create a counter attack. Opportunity knocked in the nick of time as Heinrich tore around Oklahoma’s right back to catch up to a through ball and cut it back in front of the center back where Jakubowski came sprinting into the box for the right-footed finish. That capped off a confidence-boosting afternoon for the “heartbeat” of Creighton women’s soccer, who credited some extra work during the week and a bit of advice from her head coach for the mindset she played with on Sunday.
“Working with Ross, he told me that I can take an extra touch and just place it in the back of the goal, and that I don’t have to do as much as I think I need to,” Jakubowski said. “That was my mentality going into the match today. I know I can take a touch and place it and just be calm and collected. That’s what I was able to do today.”
Although Oklahoma ended up out-shooting Creighton 17-9 and creating a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks, Sunday afternoon was another glimpse at the growth the Bluejays have put on display through six official outings so far this fall. From the moxie in the box Sullivan showed once again, to the finishes by Jakubowski, to the creativity of Atkinson, and the downfield speed mixed with a refined calm on the finishing touch by Heinrich.
Now the rubber meets the road. Literally. After opening the season with six home matches, the Bluejays will finally leave Omaha for their next three matches to close out non-conference play.
The first stop is in Kansas City, Missouri where they will take a familiar foe in UMKC at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 17. The Jays and Roos have faced off every year this decade, but after a 4-1-1 start to the series Creighton has gone 0-2-2 against them since Ross Paule took over as head coach in 2015.