Creighton wins on tired legs
The Creighton Bluejays played their second game of the weekend against William & Mary on Sunday afternoon. W&M is a good team that played within itself. They had useful players but none that showed a unique ability to take over the game, rather they played very much as a team. W&M played a blue-collar style of smart short passes, long balls to the lone striker, and tough man marking on defense. The Jays gave up the game winner against Old Dominion two days earlier because of some sloppy play by its back line. Coach Elmar Bolowich was hoping there would be no repeat, but unfortunately for the Bluejays it was not to be. In the 22nd minute a Creighton defensive error again gave W&M a goal scoring opportunity. The Creighton defense sent a misplaced pass to goal keeper Jeff Gal which was intercepted by W&M’s Chris Perez. Perez found fellow striker Patrick O’Brien in front of the goal and he neatly slipped the ball by Creighton goalkeeper Jeff Gal to open the scoring. The Jays were unable to make any substantial opportunities and played on tired legs till half time.
After half the Creighton coaching staff made several changes to the lineup and brought in a collection of freshman and upper classman to give some new life to the team. In the 55th minute senior Brent Kallman found freshman Timo Pitter in the left side of the penalty box and the freshman chipped the W&M goalkeeper to tie the game at 1-1. It was an example of composure and skill in the box by Pitter. The Jays had been very sloppy up to that point and the equalizing goal came to great relief to the home crowd. After the Jays tied the game, they began to dominate the midfield with some switched tactics. The Jays wore down W&M and created many opportunities. In the 73rd minute the Creighton bench felt they deserved a penalty kick when Junior transfer Sean Kim was blatantly pushed down in the box, but no call was made by the head referee. The play resulted in a corner kick. As the old line goes, “ball don’t lie.” Directly following the missed fowl Creighton Freshman Eric DeJulio put the Jays in the lead for good with a powerful header into the back of the net from a corner kick from Bruno Castro. The Jays took the lead and had no intention of giving W&M any opportunities to equalize. In the last 15 minutes Creighton created some fantastic chances to add to the score sheet but failed to pad their lead. Later coach Bolowich felt the Jays were fatigued and the tired legs led to the missed opportunities late in the game.
Creighton finished out the weekend 1-1 with a 2-1 win against William & Mary.
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