Favored Jays eye Valley road ahead

Junior forward Katy Peetz battles Grambling State midfielder Natashsa Nzeakor for the ball during the Jays' 3-0 win over the Tigers in the Bluejay Classic last Friday.

By NICK WILDE
Sports Reporter

The Creighton women’s soccer team won its first game in the Bluejay Classic, shutting out Grambling State 3-0 at Morrison Stadium on Friday. In their second game on Sunday, the Jays lost 1-0 to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Their record now stands at 5-5-1.

The Jays didn’t waste much time getting on the scoreboard against Grambling State as junior Heather Duncan scored her first career goal three minutes into the game. Duncan’s goal proved to be the game winner as the Jays shut out their third opponent of the season.

Creighton’s second goal of the game came in the 32nd minute as junior Toch Ihemelu scored her team-leading fourth goal of the season.

Sophomore forward Marcy Gans provided the Jays’ third goal of the night, putting a shot just out of the reach of Grambling State’s goalkeeper, Sherrice Fox.

Jays goalkeeper Kristen Casey had to make only two saves as Grambling State managed just seven total shots. The sophomore collected her second shutout of the season.

“We played better as a team in the win against Grambling State,” assistant coach Heather Friedman said. “It was important to the team that we were able to pick up the win at home.”

The Jays’ hopes of winning the Bluejay Classic were lost when UNLV’s Tanya Roberts snuck the ball past the Jays goalkeeper Valerie Zimmerer to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead. The Jays only put seven shots on goal in the 1-0 loss.

“It was disappointing that we had an opportunity to beat them, [UNLV] but defensively we made one mistake and it cost us a goal,” Friedman said.

The Jays start Missouri Valley Conference play on Oct. 7 against Illinois State. The Jays head into conference play as the favorites.

“Winning the conference is one of the expectations that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the season,” Zimmerer said.

Since each team plays only six conference games, it’s important that the Jays play their best soccer during the conference season, Zimmerer said.

“Conference games are more physical and demanding, like a knock-down, drag-it-out fight to win each game,” Friedman said.

The Jays are creating more opportunities to score now than they were earlier in the season, and they have been able to score more goals off those chances, Zimmerer said.

Part of the reason for more scoring chances is junior Kristine Willrett’s move back to forward. Willrett started the season playing defense until freshman Eden Hingwing finished playing for the under-20 Canadian National team.

Another reason the Jays are confident going into conference play is that the defense has made a lot of progress since the beginning of the season. The squad is playing far better than its 5-5-1 record would suggest, Friedman said.

When the Kansas Jayhawks pay a visit to Morrison Stadium on Friday night, the Jays will be ready because they want to prove that they can beat a team from the Big 12, Friedman said.