The women’s soccer team tied the University of Missouri Kansas City 1-1 on Sept. 13. The Jays are currently 2-5-2 in the season.
The Jays shot a season high 23 shots, but only came away with one goal. Senior goalkeeper Katie Jo Swanson set a career high in saves for the second straight game, this time with 13 saves.
Creighton played an up-tempo game and put pressure on UMKC early in the game. Junior forward Kelsey O’Donnell scored the only goal for the Jays, and her second of the season, in the 12th minute on a scintillating kick from her right side that ended up in the left end of the net. The assist came from freshman forward Jill Richgels, her third in the last three contests.
“Leading up to the goal, we dominated the first half,” O’ Donnell said. “It was definitely good to score that goal.”
O’Donnell later left the game for ten minutes because of an ankle injury. O’Donnell said that she rolled her ankle, and while it played a factor in the second half, she still felt fresh.
The rest of the first half was a back and forth affair, as both sides had great chances to score. Creighton narrowly missed a header with 12 minutes left in the half and forced the UMKC keeper to make a diving save with five minutes left. UMKC forced Swanson to make a diving save with 10 minutes left in the half and a beautiful save on a breakaway with four minutes remaining.
Creighton opened up the second half strong and controlled the tempo. The Jays narrowly missed some scoring opportunities, including shots from O’Donnell and sophomore midfielder Stephanie Anasi.
As the second half progressed, UMKC began to take control and force pressure on Creighton. UMKC tied the game in the 62nd minute on a goal from UMKC sophomore midfielder Allison Schau on a deflection off of Swanson.
“I saw the first ball deflect off one of our players and go to the post, but I couldn’t get back up fast enough,” Swanson said.
For the rest of the half, Swanson had to make multiple saves to preserve the tie, while Creighton had some chances to score. Creighton looked like they took the lead in the 74th minute on a goal from O’Donnell, but the goal was called offsides.
“I thought she was on, but it’s one we’ll have to take a look at,” head coach Bruce Erickson said about the offsides call.
“I don’t think I was offsides. My defender was offsides, but there is no way to change the refs mind or anything,” O’Donnell said. “Even though it was called back I feel like we should have put more shots away.”
UMKC also seemed like they took the lead in the 83rd minute, but that goal was also called offsides. Neither team was able to score for the rest of the half and the game went into overtime.
The game required two overtime periods, but the decisive goal was never scored and the game ended on a draw. Both teams looked tired in the overtime and the chances were not as good as they were earlier in the game.
UMKC outshot Creighton 26-23 in the game, while Creighton had a 10-7 advantage
in corners.
Erickson focused on the many chances Creighton had in the game.
“We had two or three golden opportunities in the game. We had some great chances, but we didn’t play a 90 minute game. In 110 minutes, probably five or ten of it was even, and they won 20 minutes. Unfortunately, in that 20 minutes, we conceded a goal, and just couldn’t find the net.”
“We need to be more efficient in front of the goal, like we were against the University of Nebraska Omaha,” Erickson said. “We need to be airtight in back and not concede any chances, and better in midfield. We had a good group at the end with freshmen that was very dynamic. We need to be more consistent and need players to play their way into the game rather than playing their way out.”