As games are played going into the middle of September, there are many opportunities for every Creighton program to positively affect their season’s outlook. The men’s soccer, volleyball, and women’s soccer teams have all done this, notching wins or competitive games against high-caliber teams in their respective sports. This, of course, comes with some individual accolades as well as team accomplishments, and in this edition of Kresin’s Playbook, we dive into those stats. This week, we look at the shot tendencies of the men’s soccer team, Kendra Wait’s assist totals and Alyssa Zalac’s shutout against Kansas City.
10+ – The Creighton men’s soccer team has produced 10 or more shots in their first seven matches for just the second time since the start of Johnny Torres’ tenure. The first time, in 2022, the Bluejays saw 20+ shots four times and six goals three times in the first seven matches on their way to a College Cup berth. While the offense has not produced as many goals this season, their record is better to start the year than in 2022, with one more win and one less tie. The Creighton men will begin conference play against Georgetown in Omaha on Sept. 20.
4,000 – Kendra Wait of the Creighton women’s volleyball team recorded her 4,000th career assist during her match against Louisville. Wait, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, has recorded 10 or more assists per set in seven of her first nine matches. This includes a 50-assist outing at Nebraska in five sets and a 43-assist outing against USC in Omaha in just four sets. According to the 2024 volleyball media guide, Wait is just the fifth player to amass 4,000 assists in a career at Creighton, and with 4,016 assists, she is just two assists off Melissa Weisensee for fourth place in Creighton’s all-time career leaderboard. Wait and the Bluejays are in action next in Lawrence, Kansas as the Bluejays play Purdue and Kansas on Sept. 20 and 21, respectively.
Zero – The Creighton women’s soccer team and Alyssa Zalac shut out the Kansas City Roos, allowing zero goals through 90 minutes of play on Senior Day. This, coupled with a goal for Creighton, gave Kansas City their first loss of the season after starting off 5-0-3. Creighton’s defense also allowed just one save opportunity for Zalac, as the Jays gave up just seven shots, one on goal. This is Zalac’s third shutout of the season, and the first time Creighton has had consecutive shutouts since late September and early October of 2022, when the Bluejays shut out Marquette and Providence in consecutive Big East Conference matches. The Bluejays will start Big East play at Georgetown on Sept. 22.
Numbers were found through Creighton’s athletics website, the Stathead tool and the Play Index tools on Sports-Reference.