OMAHA, Neb. – No. 23 Creighton and their high-powered offense downed Santa Clara men's soccer 4-1 on Monday at Morrison Stadium in the final match of the Jesuit Invitational. Creighton, who entered the game having scored 18 goals in five games, had four different players tally a goal in an impressive offensive display. Three of those goals came in the first half and added another in the second half before Will Wiersdorf spoiled the shutout with a late goal.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Creighton (5-0-1) got first half goals from Angel Lopez, Ayden Kokoszka and Jordan Igwenma.
- Santa Clara (2-4-0) generated two early shots from Wiersdorf and Bradley Roberson before Creighton went ahead 1-0 in the 13th minute on Lopez's goal who tucked in a shot from inside the six on a feed from Carter Tavares. Tavares received the ball outside the 18, fended up several Bronco defenders just outside of the six and found the foot of Lopez who scored his third goal of the season.
- Moises Almontes nearly had the equalizer at the 23rd minute mark striking the post from long range.
- Creighton added a second goal in the 31st minute through Kokoszka on assists from Allan Juarez and Igwenma with some nifty combination play inside the 18. It was also the third time Kokoszka has scored this season.
- The back breaker came just before halftime as the Bluejays added to their goal tally to make it 3-0. Toraji Narazaki's shot forced a save from Jackson Ozburn with the rebound coming back to Igwenma who found the back of the net, his fourth on the year.
- Creighton's continued to generate more offense after the half when Matthew Reed scored in the 53rd minute to go up by four goals, to put himself atop the team lead in goals with five.
- The Broncos pressed late with six corner kicks from the 72nd to the 79th minute mark, then Wiersdorf scored in the 89th minute to make it 4-1. It was his first of the year.
NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES:
- Santa Clara trails the series 0-3-2.
- Ozburn recorded seven saves.
- Igwenma had a game-high four shots while all three of Lopez's shots were on goal.
- Wiersdorf and Gabrielius Mazonas had three shots apiece.
HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:
Head Coach Cam Rast on the game:
"Give Creighton a lot of credit. They are so dynamic in attack. They get the ball, their movement is good, they put it in spaces, and they work so hard up front. Their attacking play is as good as we've seen in a number of years. We knew about their attack but without experiencing it on the field it was tough to handle."
Rast on the second half play:
"Creighton still wanted to attack but didn't have the urgency they had in the first half. We played a lot of players today and it's an experience that we have to learn from with Stanford coming up and we need to be even more ready."
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara plays the current number one team in the nation, Stanford, on the road on Sept. 15. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. PT.
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