MISSOULA, Mont. – The Creighton women’s soccer team battled Montana to a scoreless draw on Thursday night in the 2022 season-opener.
The 0-0 draw was the Bluejays first season-opening tie since battling South Dakota State to a 0-0 draw in the 2010 season-opener. It is also the first season-opening shutout for the Bluejays since topping South Dakota, 1-0, on Aug. 21, 2015.
Creighton (0-0-1) moves to 17-14-3 all-time in season opening games, while moving to 3-0-1 all-time against Montana.
The host Grizzlies controlled possession during the first half as neither team was able to find the back of the net. Creighton was limited to one shot during the first 45 minutes as a junior Ariana Mondiri launched a ball from just outside of the six-yard box but was denied by Montana’s Camellia Xu in the 23rd minutes.
Montana outshot the Bluejays 5-1 in the opening frame, before Creighton flipped the tide and outshot the Grizzlies 6-4 in the second half.
The Bluejays best chance of the evening came during the 67th minute as Memphis transfer, Lara Kazandjian blasted a shot from just outside the top of the 18-yard box towards the top left corner of the goal, forcing Xu to make her second save of the match.
Creighton nearly took a 1-0 lead during the 83rdrd minutes of play as a sophomore Hannah Luke sent a corner kick through the box to senior Jordy Rothwell. Rothwell headed a strike just wide of the near post keeping things scoreless.
Bluejay senior goalkeeper Keelan Terrell made three saves on the way to recording her ninth career shutout. The nine career shutouts move her into a tie with Katie Sullivan (2018-20) and Meghan Coleman (1994-97) for ninth on Creighton’s all-time career shutouts list.
Montana held a 9-7 advantage in shots while the Bluejays held a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal during the match. The Grizzlies also had five corner kicks, while the Bluejays had just two.
Creighton will stay in Missoula, Montana for the weekend and face Gonzaga in a neutral site contest on Sunday at 2 pm CT.