It’s hard to say if pressure affected the Jays when preparing for the fifth-ranked University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Tulsa is a dominant 7-1-0 team, losing only to the top-ranked University of Akron.

But the Jays are a dominant 7-1-0 team, too. Their only loss this season was to No. 18 Southern Methodist University. Their hot start was good enough to move them up to No. 11 in the college soccer rankings this week.

“We are going to go out there and try our best,” senior goalkeeper Brian Holt said before the game on Tuesday. “We don’t change anything. We try to go out there and give every opponent our best.”

Apparently the Jays’ best was too much for Tulsa.

“We wanted to attack early,” senior forward Ethan Finlay said. “We knew they weren’t going to sit back.”

Finlay probably didn’t expect “early” to be 41 seconds into the game. The kickoff gave the Jays the ball, and a pass from sophomore midfielder Jose Gomez across the box connected with Finlay and went into the back of the net. This gave Finlay his sixth goal of the season and Gomez his team-high seventh assist for the season.

Suddenly, under a minute into the game, the Jays had Tulsa on their heels.

It didn’t take long for the Bluejays to strike again.

In the 22nd minute, a pass from junior midfielder Kris Clark found Finlay, who broke down the left side of the field. He drove his way to the top of the box. He stopped and pulled up for a shot. The ball curved around a defender

and just out of the reach of the goalie.

That put the Jays ahead 2-0 early in the first half.

For the next five minutes of play, the Jays took control of the ball and danced around Tulsa. Tulsa couldn’t stop the Jays’ drives down the field and couldn’t get it past the Creighton defense.

In the 27th minute the Jays struck again. Sophomore forward Andrew Ribeiro put another goal past the Tulsa defense and gave Creighton a 3-0 lead. Just one-third into the game the Jays were already up three goals.

The score stayed 3-0 through the end of the first period, and the Jays went to the locker room feeling confident at the half.

The Jays almost made Tulsa’s experience in Omaha worse just 29 seconds into the second half, with a shot barely blocked by the Hurricane goalkeeper.

Tulsa kept trying though, repeatedly driving down the field. Tulsa put a number of crosses through the box looking to connect. One did connect in the 55th minute, bringing Tulsa within two goals with 35 minutes left to play.

Tulsa kept the crosses coming, but the Creighton defense and Holt were not going to let another goal come through.

The dagger for Tulsa almost came in the 76th minute when Creighton drove into the box and got a shot to fall in the back of the net.

The celebrations were cut short though, with an offsides call voiding the goal. But time was running out for Tulsa, and

as the clock ticked below 10 minutes left, they lost faith in a two-goal comeback.

Creighton ran out the clock and finished with 3-1 victory over the fifth-ranked team in the country.

“Our defense did a great job,” Holt said. “We feel like we can play with anyone if we play our best.”

“This win is going to be noticed,” Finlay said. “People are going to start circling us on their calendars.”

With eight games left in the regular season, Creighton is looking to continue its winning streak. It faces Indiana University at home on Saturday, Oct. 9, before going on the road for the following four games.