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Bears hold off late charge by Creighton
Brittani Knott, right, is congratulated by her teammates after scoring the first goal in Northern Colorado’s 2-1 victory over Creighton on Sunday. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)
GREELEY — It took a 2-0 UNC lead to wake Creighton’s sleeping giant; but by that time, it was too late. Brittani Knott and Danielle Birdsall scored second-half goals as the University of Northern Colorado held off a late charge by the Bluejays in a 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Jackson Stadium.
Jordan Bruch, a 5-foot-9 senior from Papillion, Neb., came to life after Birdsall gave the Bears a two-goal lead in the 64th minute. Bruch cut the lead in half less than four minutes later, and she kept the Bluejays pressing for much of the remaining 20 minutes or so.
Bruch’s goal started along the right sideline as Brittany Neumann played a long ball forward. Bruch got past the defense and was all alone against goalkeeper Heidi Owen, who had no chance in the one-on-one sitation.
Bruch was at it again just moments later. She got behind the defense in the 71st minute, but this time Owen anticipated the play and was there to cut off Bruch with a sliding stop.
“They were like, ‘Whoa, we’re not supposed to be losing to this team, and now we’re down 2-nil. We’ve got to get it going,’ ” UNC coach Tim Barrera said. “And obviously, they did.”
Creighton kept coming. Andrea Zuniga forced a diving save out of Owen in the 79th minute. Neumann missed wide with less than nine minutes to play. Kat Wright poked a ball wide from right in front of the net during a scramble in front of goal that was set up by Bruch with 5:05 to play. With 2 minutes, 45 seconds remaining, Zuniga hit the post.
It was a frantic finish, but the Bears survived by not panicking. The back line of Olivia Deadmond, Krystine Dalton, Laura Wayland and Janelle Kramer cleared the ball when they had to but also played coolly enough to look for teammates to connect with. The level-headed play started some counterattacks for UNC and drained valuable time off the clock.
“When we went up 2-0, they woke up. And we just had to be ready for that,” Barrera said. “Unfortunately sometimes you get up two goals and you relax for a moment. They caught us on the counter, and we had to fight tooth and nail the rest of the way.”
The Bears built that lead on goals from Knott and Birdsall.
Knott’s goal came after a corner kick in the 48th minute. Alexsys Tamayo passed ahead to Ariel Cook on the right wing, and Creighton defender Eden Hingwing had little choice to knock the ball out for a corner kick. When the ball arrived in front of the net on the corner kick, it fell to Knott, who was facing away from goal. She pivoted and fired, and her shot rolled through traffic and into the lower right corner of the goal.
“We had a corner, and it deflected off of someone in the box. And I was the drop person for balls like that,” said Knott, a junior midfielder from Greeley’s Northridge High School. “I happened to get it, and I had a defender. And I kind of just turned and shot. I tried to get it in the vicinity where it would hit someone, and it happened to go in the right corner.”
About 15 minutes later, Birdsall was the recipient of a well-weighted lead pass from teammate Kimmie Feidler. Birdsall fought off Hingwing and was alone against Creighton goalkeeper Kaiti Joe Swanson. It was no contest.
“It was a really good ball from Kim,” Birdsall said. “It was just perfectly placed, and all I had to do was take a touch and put it away. I’ve been working on (breakaways) a lot, and it was nice to finally get one.”
The Bears improved to 4-4-1 with the victory and handed Creighton only its third loss in 12 matches.
Barrera said fatigue might have been a factor for the Bluejays. Creighton hosted Indiana State on Friday and outshot the visitors 26-5. The Jays had to work that hard because the final, despite the lopsided shot total, was only 1-0 in Creighton’s favor. Then Creighton had only the two-day turnaround and the trip to Greeley.
UNC, on the other hand, hadn’t played since Wednesday.
And the Bears won’t play again until Sunday, when they host Wyoming in a game that is scheduled to be televised on Fox Soccer Channel.
“We’re hoping for weather like this, and we’re hoping to get a good crowd,” Barrera said.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Knott had the first goal and provided energy and strength throughout the match. Birdsall got the second goal, which proved to be crucial for UNC. Wayland was a rock in central defense. But I have to go with Bruch. She was a visible and vocal leader for Creighton and lit a fire under her team when it appeared to be defeated. Her insistence on the field made a match of a 2-0 deficit. Did she rise to the occasion too late? Probably. But she was the most irresistible force on the field.
SAVE OF THE GAME: Owen’s sliding stop on Bruch in the 71st minute, mentioned above. Anything less than Owen’s keen awareness of Bruch’s intentions would’ve left the Bears tied 2-2.
BLUEJAYS STARTERS: Swanson, Claire Zach, Emily Orbell, Bruch, Beth Fyles, Mary Zapapas, Kelly Connolly, Kyla Hoskins, Hingwing, Erin Gunther, Wright.
BEARS STARTERS: Owen, Kramer, Feidler, Dalton, Sydney VanderVelde, Marcie Johnson, Knott, Deadmond, Cook, Alexsys Tamayo, Wayland.
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