Going into the new season, the Creighton women’s soccer team knew it would need to find a new leader on the field after forward Lauren Sullivan graduated.
In her senior season, Sullivan scored 12 goals and compiled six assists, leading the Jays to a 9-6-2 record overall, missing out on the Big East Tournament by one point.
After a freshman campaign that found her on the All-Big East freshman team, sophomore midfielder Taryn Jakubowski took on the bulk of the playmaking duties that Sullivan had provided for the team. Jakubowski followed up her four-goal, six-assist freshman season by leading the team with five goals, and adding one assist on the year. For Jakubowski, this isn’t something that is all new for her.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was about three or four, so this is something that I’ve been working for my whole life,” she said.
Jakubowski grew up in Lake in the Hills, Illinois and attended Huntley High School. In 2016, she helped lead her team to a fourth-place finish in Illinois 3A, and was also named player of the year by the Northwest Herald, Daily Herald and Elgin Courier. She finished with 30 goals and 11 assists in her senior season to end her high school career.
When Jakubowski was visiting schools, she knew Creighton was the right school for her the moment she came to campus.
“Right when I came here, I felt like I knew that this was my place after seeing all the other schools,” Jakubowski said. “I felt like this was more special, it’s kind of something you can feel.”
Looking back on the season, Creighton found itself in many games that came down to the wire, losing five games by only one goal.
They had six games go into at least one overtime and didn’t earn a win in any of those six games. Although the results didn’t turn out the way they wanted this year, Jakubowski sees these games as being a learning experience for the team.
“I think that kind of shows that we have the potential to be the best team in the Big East. We need to learn from those mistakes that we’ve made, which can be easy ones to fix,” Jakubowski stated. “Seeing those at the end of games, and being able to be more fit, because that’s what it comes down to sometimes.”
The Jays lose two seniors this year, defender Mackenzie Graybill and midfielder Darby Hugunin. There are key players returning for the Jays to provide excitement when looking forward to next season including sophomore goalkeeper McKenzie Meoloa.
Meola played every minute at goalkeeper for the Jays this season, posting a goals against average of 1.75 and saving 80 percent of shots.
Since moving to the Big East, Creighton has yet to make the postseason tournament. Looking ahead to next season, Jakubowski wants to continue to raise the bar for the team and herself.
“For our team, [we want] to make the Big East Tournament, and win more of those games that we probably should have won this year,” she said. “For me, I think [I want] to be more of a playmaker. I didn’t get as many assists as I wanted to this year or goals.”
Although Jakubowski still has two more seasons before she graduates, she’s already thinking about her plans after her soccer career at Creighton ends.
“All I know is that I would have to incorporate it into my life somehow because it has been such a big part of my life for so long,” she said.