Less than a week after climbing to second in the country, the Creighton men’s soccer team completed its ascension to the top of the NSCAA poll with a 3-1 win against Columbia University. The victory propelled the Jays to 3-0 on the season and earned them the No. 1 ranking.

One of the largest crowds in team history packed into Morrison Stadium for Friday night’s game. It didn’t take long to get them cheering as the Jays found the back of the net in the 15th minute. Senior forward Sean Kim split two defenders on a breakaway and easily beat the goalkeeper to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. The goal was Kim’s first of the season. The lead stayed the same for the remainder of the half, with the Jays holding an eight to three shot advantage.

Columbia continued to fight in the second half, scoring in the 55th minute off a ball that hit the post and came bouncing back to a Columbia forward. It wasn’t until the 77th minute that the tie was broken. Sophomore midfielder Timo Pitter scored his team-leading third goal of the season with a brilliant move inside the box. Pitter, seemingly trapped in the corner inside the box, passed the ball to himself through the legs of the first defender and beat the charging second defender to the ball before chipping it over the goalkeeper.

In the 87th minute freshman midfielder/ forward Ricardo Perez extended the Jays’ lead to 3-1 with his second goal of the season. The goal came off of a pass from senior forward Carlos McCrary, who perfectly placed a pass from the side of the box into the middle, giving Perez an easy opportunity to capitalize. One key tothe game was the opportunities created by the Jays, who posted 18 shots compared to the eight produced by Columbia. Junior goalkeeper Alex Bolowich earned his third win of the season, making one save en route to the 3-1 win.

“When they scored the goal, that gave us a little bit of a wake-up call,” head coach Elmar Bolowich said. “All of a sudden we started shifting into another gear. Maybe we were a little bit too complacent thinking we could cheatourselves out of a game today, and it almost caught up with us.”

The Jays will head to Norfolk, Va. to compete in the Stihl Classic. The Jays face off against Old Dominion University at 6 p.m.