Coming off a road game at Villanova where they earned their first Big East victory by a final score of 1-0, the Bluejays looked to continue to improve their spot in the Big East standings when they took on the Marquette Golden Eagles at Morrison Stadium on Sept. 27.
Going into the match, the Bluejays had a record of 4-5-1, including a Big East record of 1-1, while the Golden Eagles had a record of 4-3-2, their only Big East match ending in a draw against the Butler Bulldogs.
The first shot of the game was taken by the Bluejays in the third minute by junior forward Mallory Connealy, but her shot was saved by the Marquette goalkeeper.
Neither team would take a shot for the next 20 minutes, but Marquette scored the first goal of the game when freshmen defender Meg Decker successfully got the ball to sophomore forward Jocelyn Leigh, who was able to make a move to free herself from her defender and put it in the net for a score, earning Marquette a 1-0 advantage.
“We work on defense a lot, we work on communicating, organizing out the back a lot. So, it was a bit disappointing to give up that first goal,” junior defender Savanna Solomon said. “But I think after that it kind of snapped us into where we needed to be mentally.”
Despite the disappointing start to the match, the Bluejays managed to keep their heads up and continued to compete. In the beginning of the 31st minute, Creighton tried to tie things up when Connealy took another shot that was again saved by Marquette goalkeeper Hailey Wade. Soon after this, Marquette committed a handball in the box. The Bluejays capitalized on the Golden Eagle mistake when fifth-year senior forward Ariana Mondiri scored on a penalty kick in the 34th minute to get the Bluejays on the board and to tie the game at one a piece.
“Credit to the players,” Head Coach Jimmy Walker said. “When we conceded, we went straight back and scored.”
Neither team would take a shot for the rest of the half, and the score stood at 1-1 at the break.
Early in the second half, Conneally continued to put pressure on the Marquette defense when she tried to give the Bluejays their first lead by taking her third shot of the match at the beginning of the 50th minute; however, her shot went over the top.
Marquette would then take four quick, consecutive shots from the 62nd to 64th minute, but the Bluejays survived this Golden Eagle attack.
Sophomore forward Anna Bragg would then take the next two Bluejays shots in the 66th and 72nd minutes, trying to get Creighton ahead of the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard. However, Wade continued to be a problem for the Bluejays as she managed to save both of these shots.
From the 80th and 83rd minutes, the Bluejays pressed hard, fighting for a lead. In this short timeframe, the Bluejays took four shots. First, senior midfielder Tori Gillis took an unsuccessful shot in the 81st minute. Less than 10 seconds later, sophomore forward Kendal Radke took a shot for the Bluejays that went over the top of the goal. In the 82nd minute, Gillis took another shot, but the ball went out high. In the 83rd minute, Mondiri wasted no time taking a shot after being subbed in for Radke, but her shot was unsuccessful, and the score remained tied.
In the 88th minute, the Bluejays made a couple final shots to try to take a late lead. First, Mondiri took a shot that was saved by Wade, and about 50 seconds later, Soloman took a shot that went out top; but neither team capitalized, and the game ended as a 1-1 draw between the two Big East squads.
“First thing is if you can’t win, don’t lose. So, we ended up with a tie,” Walker said. “Don’t know if it was a fair result when you really look at the statistics, but in the end, I don’t think we did enough to win the game.”
Throughout the match, Creighton took a total of 15 shots, including nine shots on goal. But the Bluejays were only able to score once.
“Respectfully, if our finishing had been better, we would have won today,” Walker said. “And that’s the tiny little difference between teams that win championships and teams that fall short.”
Defensively, the Bluejays looked solid throughout the match. The Bluejays did not give up a goal after the 23rd minute.
After Saturday’s draw, the Bluejays sit at 4-5-2. After hosting a tough No. 24-ranked Xavier on Wednesday night, Creighton travels to play Connecticut tomorrow at 5:30 p.m.