Creighton University
Evansville
Bluejays Shutout Evansville, 3-0 on Women's Soccer Senior Day
10/22/2006 3:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
OMAHA, Neb. - Creighton's seniors closed out the home portion of its regular season with a bang at Morrison Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Bluejays (9-6-2, 3-1-1) shutout the Purple Aces (7-8-0, 3-3-0) 3-0, leaving Creighton all alone in second place in the MVC standings. With the win, Creighton clinches the No. 2 seed at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which also gives the Bluejays a bye into the semifinals round.
Underclassmen Nicole DeLue, Toch Ihemelu and Jordan Bruch helped ensure Creighton improved to 5-0-1 in its last six meetings with the Purple Aces. DeLue put the Jays ahead in the first half at the 23rd minute mark. Sam Russell found DeLue open on the left side of the pitch and DeLue blasted the shot from 18 yards out putting the Jays up 1-0 in the first half.
The match was tight throughout the first half on into the second. Every time a UE player tried to make a play on the goal, a Bluejay defender was there. Evansville made some excellent plays as well on the defensive side of the ball. In the 59th minute, a UE defender made a diving save on a shot from Kristine Willrett to keep the score 1-0 in the early minutes of the second half.
The Jays pressure was too much for UE though and Ihemelu scored her team leading fifth goal of the year on an assist from seniors Gretta Arvesen and Emily Munn to give the Jays the 2-0 in the 61st minute. From there on, it was all Creighton as the Jays outshot the Purple Aces 12-7 in the second half and out cornered them 3-0.
Bruch put the exclamation point on the victory by scoring her first career goal in 67th minute of play. It was freshman to freshman, as Anne Peetz found Bruch all alone on the left side of the field. UE goalkeeper Whitney Raeon misplayed the ball and Bruch had an open net for her first goal of the season.
"I am pleased with our play and I thought we executed our game plan," said head coach Bruce Erickson. "We had our chances and finished three of them. It was a great performance all around."
Senior CU goalkeeper Valerie Zimmerer had six saves on the afternoon and increased her season record to 6-2-0. This was her third shutout of the season and brings her career total to 10, nine of which have been inside of Morrison Stadium.
Creighton now travels to Northern Iowa on Thursday, Oct. 26 for its final regular season match. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
