Photo courtesy Garrett Hawkins/Omaha Athletics.
The Mavericks’ dominant first half allowed them to walk away from their ferocious rivalry match with a 2-2 draw. The Omaha rival Creighton Bluejays fought hard to quickly overcome a 1-0 deficit and take the lead, but their one goal lead wasn’t enough to stave off a draw brought about by Nebraska native Junior Casillas’ late equalizer.
French junior forward Theo Klein scored the first goal for the Mavericks in the 51st minute. Klein made use of his second penalty shot opportunity to give the Mavericks the first lead of the match. The true colors of the rivalry came through during the setup of the shot, resulting in red cards for both teams.
A mere minute after the Mavericks took the lead, the Bluejays’ redshirt sophomore midfielder Sean Green converted a corner kick from Giorgio Probo to tie the game up once again. This goal was the first goal allowed by Mavericks goalkeeper Nathanael Sallah this season. The Bluejays’ Miguel Ventura repeated the process in the 65th minute to take a 2-1 lead.
Despite the dwindling clock and the one goal deficit, the Mavericks kept pressing the Bluejays. Minutes after giving up another goal to the Bluejays, the Mavericks’ Chilean defensive-midfielder Gonzalo Cuevas found midfielder Junior Casillas for the equalizing goal. Casillas’ fifth goal of the season gave way to a draw for the Mavericks, moving their overall record to 4-3-3.
The Mavericks take on the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in their next match on Saturday, Oct. 7. In just their third Summit League game of the season, the Mavericks will look to improve upon their 1-0-1 conference record.
