Creighton Women’s Soccer (7-6-3) earned back-to-back wins over UConn and Georgetown, following a 2-0 shutout at Morrison Stadium on Oct. 21 with a 4-2 road victory over the Hoyas on Wednesday. The results moved the Bluejays to fourth place in the Big East standings with a 3-3-2 conference record.
The victories also marked a turnaround for Creighton following a 5-0 loss to Xavier on Oct. 17. Against UConn, the Bluejays relied on a career-high nine saves from junior goalkeeper Morgan Paley and goals from junior forward Anna Bragg and senior midfielder Olivia Duray to earn their seventh shutout of the season. Despite being outshot 18-7 and facing nine corner kicks, Creighton held the Huskies scoreless.
“That wasn’t us [against Xavier], so we just really wanted to bounce back, come together as a group, and just go into it, fight with nothing to lose, and work our tails off to try and get a result,” Bragg said following the match against UConn.
UConn threatened early, creating several scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes. The Huskies’ best opportunity came in the 16th minute when they earned a penalty kick, but Paley made a diving save before smothering the rebound to keep the match scoreless.
The save marked Paley’s third penalty kick stop of the season, making her the first Creighton goalkeeper to stop three penalty kicks in a single season since at least 2000.
“She’s been huge for us. I mean, like, when you think stuff isn’t going your way and then just to have your keeper say, ‘Okay,’ like that, that’s all the momentum we need,” Duray said. “We are really grateful for [her]… I had full faith, I was like, ‘She’s going to save this.’”
Creighton capitalized on the momentum in the 31st minute. Freshman Cassidy Horton won a loose ball in the midfield and found Bragg near the top of the penalty area. Bragg maneuvered around a defender before sending a shot into the upper-left corner for her second goal of the season.
“That save was huge. It was huge, but then we go, not long after that, we go down and score,” head coach Jimmy Walker said. “When you score a goal and you’re one-nil up, you dig your claws into that one-nil win. It gives everybody another 10%, they reach deeper, and they run harder.”
The Bluejays extended their lead in the 64th minute. After a series of touches from sophomore Taylor Yablonski and Horton, Duray finished the sequence for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Duray has continued to develop since moving into a new midfield role, embracing the opportunity to contribute offensively.
“I have a great group of girls around me, so I’m just kind of experimenting with it and having fun with it,” Duray said.
With the two-goal advantage, Creighton’s defense continued to withstand UConn’s attack. Paley made several more saves down the stretch to preserve the shutout, while the Bluejays’ defensive effort helped them reach their preseason goal of seven clean sheets.
“We’ve had our backs against the wall a little bit this season with things that have gone against us a little bit. Some season-ending injuries and things like that,” Walker said. “For that one today, it took everybody. It took the goalkeeper. It took the defenders. It’s taken the team at practice that were working really hard to prepare the team for the games… now we got to build off that… everybody was on tonight, from one through 11, through the subs coming off the bench to the staff. It was a really good day for us.”
Creighton carried its momentum into Wednesday’s matchup against Georgetown, earning a 4-2 victory in Washington, D.C., for its first win over the Hoyas in program history.
Yablonski scored her first collegiate goal in the 17th minute off a pass from junior Macy Felton. Bragg doubled Creighton’s lead with a penalty kick early in the second half, but Georgetown responded with a goal less than a minute later.
The Bluejays answered quickly as sophomore Olivia Sides scored off a corner kick to make it 3-1. After Georgetown converted another penalty kick in the 64th minute, Creighton secured the win when sophomore Sarah Hyde headed in a Sides corner kick six minutes later for her third goal of the season.
Creighton finished with four goals on seven shots, its highest-scoring Big East performance since a 6-1 win over Xavier in October 2016.
The Bluejays head to South Orange, N.J., for their final road match of the regular season against Seton Hall tomorrow. Kickoff is set for noon.