Omaha, Neb. — With goals in the opening two minutes of each half and the game winner in the 80th minute (79:40), Creighton Men’s Soccer defeated San Francisco 4-2 on Thursday, August 27. The win pushed Creighton to 2-0-1 on the season, while San Francisco fell to 0-2-1.
Senior Matthew Reed tallied the first goal of the match in the 2nd minute (1:48) converting a series of passes from junior Brady Bragg and junior Brian Edelman. Bragg fed a pass along the sideline to Edelman, who centered a ball to Reed at the back post.
San Francisco answered in the 26th minute (25:47 as David Raphael saw his first shot blocked, but quickly reclaimed and fired for an unassisted goal.
In the closing second of the half, Creighton appeared to take a 2-1 lead as sophomore Aaron Deppe lofted a ball past San Francisco goalkeeper Lucas Jones. The goal, however, was inexplicably ruled to have crossed after time expired and no review was allowed.
Creighton wasted little time retaking the lead in the second half as freshman Jordan Igwenma fed sophomore Ayden Kokoszka a centered pass inside the box in the 47th minute (46:30).
Once more the Dons responded as Raphael found Isaiah Easley for the equalizer in the 57th minute (56:20).
The 60th minute, however, changed the matcha as Raphael picked up his second yellow card of the contest. The result forced USF to play a man down for the final 30:48.
Creighton took advantage as Igwenma finished passes from Bragg and freshman Carter Derksen for the game-winning goal. Angel Lopez added some insurance with an unassisted goal with 84:59 on the clock.
The match featured eight total yellow cards, four to each squad. While Creighton outshot San Francisco, 23-14.
The Bluejays play their first road match of the season on Monday, August 31 as Creighton travels to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane at 7:00 pm.