PC Friars Lose to Creighton in Big East Semifinals
PC news release…
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The No. 22 Providence College men’s soccer team dropped a 2-1 battle to No. 24 Creighton in the BIG EAST Semifinal on Thursday night on Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium.
The top-seeded Friars drop to 12-6 overall, while the Bluejays (11-5-3) advance to the BIG EAST Championship Game against either Villanova or Butler on Sunday.
The Friars attacked the Bluejay end right from the opening touch as Julien Gressel’s (Neustadt an der Aisch, Germany) free kick just outside the box was labeled for the lower right corner, but Creighton goalkeeper Alex Kapp got a hand on it and steered it wide.
Providence cashed in minutes later in the seventh minute as Steven Kilday (Marshfield, Mass.) dribbled along the end line and fed a perfect feed to Danny Griffin (Wethersfield, Conn.) at the top of the box and the freshman hammered home his seventh goal of the season to put the Friars up 1-0.
After that initial surge, the Bluejays regained composure and knotted the game at 1-1 in the 31st minute on a goal by Ricky Lopez-Espin after a feed into the box by Joel Rydstrand. Creighton grabbed the lead in the 41st minute as Myles Englis deposited a cross from Karim Sawaf into the back of the Friars’ cage to put the Bluejays up 2-1.
Creighton led in shots during the opening 45 minutes by a 7-5 margin, as the Friars landed all five shots on target. Capp recorded four saves while Miller notched two saves for the Friars.
The Friars looked to get the equalizer in the 60th minute as Gressel had a point-blank chance from about five yards out, but his blistering shot was stoned by Kapp and sent out of bounds. Kapp continued to deny the Friars just minutes later with back-to-back stops on Gressel and Braden Kline (Lancaster, Pa), with that latter being tipped just past the left post.
A frantic pace in the final minutes gave the Friars looks at the Bluejays goal, but Providence couldn’t knot the game up as they saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end.
Creighton’s Alex Kapp finished the game with nine saves, while Colin Miller (2 saves) suffered his first defeat of the season to fall to 11-1.
The Friars will await their NCAA at-large bid fate as the field for the 2016 NCAA Tournament will be revealed on Monday, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m.
