Coming off a complete 90-minute defensive performance coupled with the first shutout of the season as visitors at Grand Canyon University, the Creighton men’s soccer team returned home with renewed confidence, driving the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes out of Omaha with a 3-0 victory.

“The best teams in the country have to be able to do the same thing every day and have to be able to hold our standards every game,” co-captain and senior midfielder Jackson Castro said about the precedent the GCU match set for the rest of the season. “We felt like this is a game [against Tulsa] that we had to come out and have [the] energy to win, so that’s just what we did.”

On Sept. 14, the Bluejays recorded their second straight shutout of the season against Tulsa, facilitated by an efficient first half high press and calm defensive strategy. Striking thrice in the opening half, the Bluejays finished the job and posted a 4-1-2 record, just in time for Big East play to begin.

The triple-scoring threat began just 48.1 seconds into the match, as head coach Johnny Torres’ high press playing style found traction.

The Bluejays began to push the issue in Tulsa’s defensive third from the whistle, running up to meet the Tulsa backline as they set up their offensive strategy. Capitalizing off an error in the forward pass, junior midfielder Roman Torres stole the ball and netted the Bluejays’ first goal of the night, and his first goal as a Bluejay.

Up 1-0 not even one minute in the game, the Bluejays never became complacent, upping the pressure they put on Tulsa’s goalkeeper and the backline, hoping to force another errant turnover.

“We’ve gotten leads earlier in the season that we’ve given up, and I think we started to learn from that…[learned to] not get comfortable, and just keep building on it and keep playing the way we want to,” Castro said about the Bluejays maintaining their aggressive attack strategy after taking the lead so early.

Just minutes later, the high press put Creighton in yet another favorable position to score. Pressing in Tulsa’s half of the field, a pass upfield was chipped skyward off the foot of sophomore midfielder Ali Ramadan.

As the ball spiraled in the air, Castro located it in the attacking third, taking off down the left sideline to field the ball. Beating the only defender standing in his way, the senior evaded the desperate save attempt by Tulsa’s goalkeeper and punched a shot into the net for another Creighton score.

“I saw that our press was working really well. Our first goal, we won it on a press, so I took a chance and won it,” Castro said. “Then, I knew the keeper was coming up fast, so I just beat him and scored.”

As Tulsa’s offense looked to lessen the deficit, it was Creighton’s calm defense that relentlessly poked holes in Tulsa’s offense. One of Tulsa’s most dangerous attacks came midway through the opening half but was quickly snuffed out by junior goalkeeper Blake Gillingham. The goalkeeper’s poised slide tackle gave senior midfielder Lucio Berron the chance to completely clear the ball out of the zone and take Tulsa off the attack.

Despite Tulsa’s offensive drought, the Bluejays continued to find chances in their own offensive third. Turning the Golden Hurricane’s scoring stalemate into yet another aggressive opportunity, a third member of Creighton’s roster joined in on the scoring action in the 28th minute.

Building the offense, Castro sent a crossing pass to the awaiting feet of junior defender Ryusei Shimonishi, who served an on-point pass to sophomore midfielder Edward Morales. Punching the ball in with his left foot, Morales posted his first goal as a Bluejay and propelled Creighton to a strong 3-0 lead over the Golden Hurricane.

“It’s amazing that we have guys that are scoring and opening up their scoring account with our program,” head coach Johnny Torres said of Morales and Torres’ first goals. “It’s a special time. They’ll never forget that moment, and so happy to be able to share it with them.”

Heading into halftime knowing that Tulsa would have a mountain to climb to match Creighton’s three-goal lead, the message to the Bluejays was clear: treat the second half like a whole new match, with 0-0 on the board, Torres said.

“The first ten minutes [are] the most important,” Castro said of Creighton’s mentality into the second half. “We have to come out, not get scored on, and keep playing the way we want to, so keep pressing the ball.”

While the Bluejays refused Tulsa’s second-half attack, Creighton’s offensive prowess shown in the first half was largely quelled by a defensive deadlock between the two teams.

Creighton’s closest scoring opportunity came on yet another offensive break for the Bluejays, this time created by freshman forward Gavrilo Civriċ. Breaking down the pitch, the freshman nearly netted his fourth goal of the season on a near one-on-one battle with the Tulsa goalkeeper, but an unlucky bounce saw the ball hit off the left post before it was cleared by the Golden Hurricane.

At the end of the match, the Bluejays outshot Tulsa 11-10, while in the net, Gillingham tallied his second shutout of the season. With two back-to-back clean sheets, the junior goalkeeper became the first goalie to achieve this since Creighton’s victory over Georgetown (3-0) and Seton Hall (6-0) in the 2022 Big East Tournament.

Following the victory, with the beginning of conference play just on the horizon, Torres said that he was delighted to see the team achieve the victory and the shutout. He also highlighted that there were still improvements to be made in preparation for Georgetown.

“We didn’t do a very good job of being able to balance our defense and our attack in the second half,” he said. “I thought we were sloppy and perhaps on a different day, maybe things don’t go our way if we don’t take care of the ball. Happy for the three points today, happy for the shutout, but there’s definitely a lot of work still to be done.”

The Bluejays are set to open their conference schedule against the Hoyas today at 6 p.m. at Morrison Stadium, where they look to open Big East season play with a victory.