Twenty-eight minutes into a pivotal, must-win match for the Creighton women’s soccer team, star forward Ariana Mondiri appeared to have broken the 0-0 deadlock with Seton Hall. After deftly switching directions on her defender, Mondiri fired a curling shot into the top-right corner to send Morrison Stadium into celebration.
But after a lengthy review, the goal was waved off, and the Bluejays’ momentum took an even harder hit. Freshman Jalen Chaney, who had assisted on the play, was shown a red card, forcing Creighton to play the remaining 62 minutes a woman down.
Frustrated but unfazed, the Bluejays quickly turned the moment into motivation. Within ten minutes, they struck twice to seize control of the match before halftime—and never let Seton Hall back in. Creighton ultimately secured a 3-0 shutout victory to stay in the thick of the Big East Tournament race.
“The whole team, everyone one of them tonight kept their composure, really dialed into the detail. It was going to be a tough task. If that doesn’t give them a lift to want to now go in and compete in that conference tournament…. I don’t know how much more they can do because, if I’m them now, I’m ready to take on the world,” Head Coach Jimmy Walker said
Mondiri opened the scoring the in the 33rd minute, converting her team-leading seventh goal of the season after junior Clara Kulick slipped a sharp centering pass into the box. The graduate forward took one touch and buried the shot to give Creighton a well-earned lead.
“[After the red card,] we didn’t say much to each other. We’re kind of surprised, but we knew that regardless, we needed to win. It didn’t matter if we went a man down, the mentality was the same,” Mondiri said.
Just five minutes later, the Bluejays doubled it. Senior Tori Gillis charged forward and headed in a perfectly placed free kick from freshman Olivia Sides, who lofted the ball in from the left side of the box. The LSU transfer connected cleanly along the back post for the second goal of the year, sending Creighton into halftime up 2-0 despite being down a player.
Creighton kept the energy rolling following the break. In the 59th minute, senior Brynn Gardner added insurance with a highlight-reel strike from outside the top of the box. After sophomore Olivia Duray recovered the loose ball near the far sideline, she sent a long cross-field pass that Gardner collected before turning and blasting a shot into the top-right corner to give Creighton a commanding 3-0 advantage.
From there, the defense handled the rest. Behind strong organization and confident goalkeeping from the veteran, senior Alyssa Zalac, who made two saves to earn her third shutout of the season, the Bluejays closed out the win with poise.
“We talked before the game about the importance of sticking together as a team, no matter what,” Walker said. “The importance of being able to look each other in the eye at the end of the game and say, ‘I gave everything I’ve got for my teammates.’ In this season, we’ve had ups and downs and it’s been relatively difficult. That’s probably one of the best performances I’ve ever seen as a coach from any one of the teams I’ve coached before—the character, [the] desire. On our day, … when we come to play, we’re as good as anybody. So proud of the girls, so proud of the effort, so proud of the team start to finish.”
With the victory, the Bluejays improved to 6-7-3 overall and 3-3-2 in Big East play, climbing to fifth in the conference standings and keeping their postseason hopes alive heading into the final two regular season matches.
Creighton will now hit the road for its final regular-season trip, visiting Butler today before closing the schedule at home against St. John’s on Nov. 1. First kick with the Bulldogs is set for 6 p.m.
