After defeating UC Santa Barbara on the road Tuesday, the Jays returned to Omaha to defeat DePaul improving their record to 4-0-0. The game took place Saturday night at Morrison Stadium in front a supportive crowd of 2603.
Despite a rough first half, Creighton jumped out to a quick lead when sophomore midfielder Greg Jordan headed one in off of a free kick, 35 yards out from sophomore midfielder Jose Gomez who contributed both assists in the victory. Jordan scored once again in the second half off of a corner kick from Gomez in the second half.
Creighton never trailed during the game, but coach Jaime Clark wasn’t impressed with his team’s performance for much of the first half. The Jays had a huge momentum swing when junior goalkeeper Brian Holt blocked a penalty kick late in the first half.
“We just didn’t have the right shape for much of the first half,” Clark said. “Holt’s save gave us a lot of momentum and we were able to regroup and play well in the second half. They thought they were going to go into halftime with a tie game, and then the Holt makes a great save.”
Although defense has been the story of the Jay’s season with four consecutive shutouts, Clark and teammates say Gomez has played a vital role in the Jay’s offense.
“Jose could have had five assists,” said Clark. “He played really well tonight.”
Gomez is currently the team leader in assists with five so far on the season, including two in the win over DePaul.
“Jose can put the ball anywhere he wants to,” said Jordan. “Some of the stuff he does with the ball just amazes me.”
After beating the Gauchos of Santa Barbara on Tuesday, the Jay’s were able to break into the Associated Press top 25, which puts an even bigger target on the Jay’s back.
“It’s nice to be ranked, but that’s not something I’m even thinking about,” said Holt. “We just want to compete and improve every game.”
The Jays will have a challenging two-game road trip next week as they travel to Peoria, Illinois to face off against SMU and Dartmouth in The Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic.
“SMU and Dartmouth are great teams and will probably be in the top 25 next week,” Clark said. “If we’re going to beat teams like that, we can’t relax for a half, were going to have to play well for the whole game. These games are tough because not only are we playing quality teams, but we play in neutral sights, so we won’t have the added energy from a crowd.”
The 24th-ranked Bluejays will be busy all week preparing for what could potentially be one of the tougher stretches of games this season. With a 4-0-0 record, the Jays are focused on being the dominant team they were before their down season in 2009.
“It’s motivation that people don’t think that we are good as we used to be,” Jordan said. “Our goal is to be better, and we knew we could be coming into the season.”
The Jays will be tested this weekend in their first game of the road trip against SMU, Friday, Sept. 17 at 5 p.m.