The sixth seeded Creighton women’s soccer team saw their season end in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to second seed Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals. The Jays looked to capitalize the momentum they had after winning a dramatic game in penalty kicks against Drake in the quarterfinals, but could not do so.
Illinois State set the tone for the game right from the start. After narrowly missing two shots, sophomore forward and MVC player of the year Rachel Tejada notched the first goal of the game and her seventeenth of the year. In the sixth minute, Tejada slipped through the defense in the middle of the field and lofted a floater over senior keeper Katie Jo Swanson’s head.
Creighton successfully responded to the early goal by putting pressure on ISU for the rest of the period. They narrowly missed chances on some headers and corner kicks and forced ISU keeper Aryn Newsome to make three saves in the first half.
The Jays finally tied the game up in the 37th minute and broke their long scoreless streak off of a free kick from senior defender Gabriela Guillen. Freshman midfielder Kaeyln Korte was tripped outside the box after driving to the net. This set up the free kick, which Guilen claimed and waived off her teammates. Guilen delivered a beautiful shot to the left corner out of the keeper’s reach.
About the goal, Guilen said, “I always work on those types of kicks in practice. I really felt like I was going to put it in. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
Guilen’s score was the Jays’ first goal in regulation since October 11 against Drake, over 430 minutes ago.
For the remainder of the half, junior forward Lauren Cingoranelli put major pressure on ISU by breaking away from the defense and taking three shots. Unfortunately, none could connect. The first half ended in a 1-1 tie.
In the second half, Creighton could not find the offense it needed despite many finding opportunities, and ISU fired shots at will. Swanson kept the Jays in the game with some beautiful saves, but in the end it was not enough.
In the 48th minute, Swanson dove forward to make the save and stop a breakaway from Tejada. The pace of the game picked up, as both teams flew up and down the field.
Senior forward Brittney Neumann, dealing with an ankle injury, missed a shot in the 58th minute after blowing by the defense. Three minutes later, Swanson made another spectacular save off of an ISU header.
ISU continued to pound Swanson with pressure, narrowly missing two headers in the next few minutes and having a shot blocked by the Creighton defense. Freshman defender Kyla Booker and Neumann both had chances to give Creighton the lead, but could not capitalize.
Eventually, the ISU pressure became too much for Creighton. With 12 minutes left in the game, Tejada broke free, but decided to pass to a wide open teammate who narrowly missed her shot. Two minutes later, Tejada approached Swanson on a one-on-one breakaway, but shot the ball into Swanson’s face.
Swanson confirmed this after the game when she claimed that, “Yes, the ball did hit my face.”
ISU finally took advantage of their chances when Tejada scored the game winning goal on another breakaway in the 81st minute. This time, Tejada showed patience, as she drew Swanson out and avoided her dive. Tejada then dribbled the ball to the right and shot the ball past junior forward Kelsey O’Donnell to score the goal.
Swanson said that Tejada, “just got by me when I tried to dive and got the ball through the net.”
The game was not over, however. Swanson had to make another save off of another Tejada breakaway. Creighton tried to score the game-tying goal on last ditch efforts, but found no luck, even though they came very close on a header in the last two minutes of the game.
The loss ended the Jays’ season 3-13-3, while the ISU Redbirds improved to 12-4-2 and moved on to the conference tournament finals, where they went on to beat Indiana State 5-1 and win the MVC tournament championship.
ISU outshot Creighton 20-14 in the match, while Creighton held a 5-2 edge in corner kicks. Swanson ended a career game with seven saves, while Newsom ended with eight.
The game became a microcosm of the Jays’ season, as they played well enough to win and received many opportunities, but the end result was disappointing. Coach Erickson reflected on this after the game.
“We had a tentative start, but we felt like we were going to score. The team fought tonight, but once again it came down to one play. We peaked during the tournament and we are playing out best soccer, but it was too late.”
Erickson also praised many of the players on the team, saying, “Booker has a nose for the goal. Guilen was great. KJ (Swanson) was lights out. Cingoranelli was outstanding and the future is bright for her. Neumann played her best but the ankle is really bothering her. We want our best players to play their best and they did.”
When asked about Rachel Tejada and how she was able to do so much damage, Erickson said, “Tejada is so dangerous. She was a handful tonight and we couldn’t let her get so open. We gave up some balls in midfield after trying to score which let Tejada loose which is always going to lead to trouble.”
Though the team finished with a losing record, they found many positives which they hope the remaining players can use for next season. Two seniors, Swanson and Guilen, reflected on the season.
“We started off the season shaky but the last few games were our best of the year,” Swanson said.
“It was a good season to remember. Our record doesn’t show how good we were. I couldn’t ask for a better way to go out,” Guilen said.