Creighton University
Arizona State
Arizona State Downs Women's Soccer 2-1
9/18/2009 10:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer
OMAHA, Neb. - Claire Zach's first goal of the season was not enough for
the Jays, as Katie Shepard scored the next two Arizona State
goals, lifting the Sun Devils to a 2-1 victory over Creighton Friday evening at
Morrison Stadium. The ASU victory snapped a four-match win streak for the
Jays and kept them winless against ASU (0-3-0) all-time. "I think we hit a bit of a lull after our first goal," said
head coach Bruce Erickson. "We got some momentum back before the half and came
out and competed well in the second half," Erickson added. Creighton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute on
Zach's first goal of the season. Emily Orbell played a free kick from just
outside the top right corner of the goal box to the top center of the keeper's
box. Zach put her head on the ball and it beat ASU keeper Brianna Silvestri
just inside the left post for the 1-0 Bluejay lead. ASU came right back with two eerily similar strikes 3:45
apart to take a 2-1 lead into the half. ASU's first goal came at the 12:26 mark off a corner.
Courtney Tinnin played a ball from the left corner into the box. Alexandra
Elston's initial shot was saved by a Jay defender, but Shepard corralled the
rebound and beat Alicia Montgomery on the back post to tie the match at one.
In the 17th minute, it was Tinnin on the
left corner again, as this time the ball came untouched to Shepard. She headed
the ball just inside the backside post again to make it a 2-1 Sun Devil lead;
an advantage they would not relinquish. The Sun Devils dictated play much of the first half,
but CU pressed and gave itself a couple of chances to equalize in the second
half. 12 minutes into the half, Macy Mauer had a header
attempt that struck the top of the crossbar and bounded back out of bounds.
Seven minutes later, Erin Gunther struck from 30 yards out, again striking the
crossbar and falling out of harms way for the Sun Devils. "We had a lot of good sequences in the second half in
pushing to score," said Erickson. "I was really proud of the way we battled
tonight, but Arizona
State is a good team and
we just didn't quite have enough," he added. Tinnin's two assists gave her four on the year and
Shepard's two goals were the first of the season. Orbell's assist also marked
her fourth of the season and tied her with Brittney Neumann for the team point
lead at 12. Creighton's record when Orbell scored at least one point is
now 19-2-0 over the last three seasons. The crowd of 1,277 fans was the second largest home crowd
in CU women's soccer history. The largest came on Sept. 21, 2007 when 1,547
fans came and saw the Jays and Iowa
at Morrison Stadium. The Jays are off for a week before they get Missouri Valley
Conference play underway. They will host Indiana State
next Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Morrison Stadium.
