The third ranked Creighton men’s soccer team remains unbeaten on the season after a 2-0 victory against the 22nd ranked University of Kentucky Wildcats at Morrison Stadium Wednesday night, September 21st.
There were 2,557 fans on hand at the game to see the team in action. The Jays weren’t able to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the first half despite early chances by senior forward Ethan Finlay and junior forward Dion Acoff, both of which were stopped by Wildcats goalkeeper Tyler Beadle. Play picked up after Finlay was brought down inside the penalty box by a Kentucky defender. Finlay took the penalty kick, but again Beadle came up with another save for Kentucky. A very physical first half ended with the Wildcats committing 14 fouls compared to the Bluejay’s 5, and the score tied at 0.
Creighton’s chance came nine minutes into the second half when sophomore Tyler Polak sent a pass to Finlay who found junior Andrew Ribiero inside to score the Jay’s first goal of the game. It was Ribiero’s second of the season.
The scoring continued just five minutes later when a Bruno Castro shot rebounded off the goalie and found Finlay inside the box. Finlay put the ball in the net to improve the lead to 2.
The Jays continued to stay strong on defense for the rest of the second half, with great plays from defenders, sophomore Tyler Polak, senior Andrew Duran, junior Jake Brown and freshman Eric Miller, who lead the team en route to their seventh consecutive shutout. Senior goalkeeper Brian Holt stood strong in goal, recording 5 saves. Holt has yet to give up a goal in over 650 minutes of play and is chasing his own record of 722 scoreless minutes set in 2008.
The Win improved the Jays to 7-0-0 on the season and dropped the Wildcats to 6-3-1 on the year. Creighton improved it’s defensive stats by being the only team in the nation that has yet to surrender a goal and in the company of No. 2 Connecticut and No. 15 Old Domnion as the only teams still undefeated.
The team looks to improve on its perfect record this Saturday, when they hosts Saint Mary’s at 7 p.m. at Morrison Stadium.