It took just 6:33 last night for a win to turn into a loss for Western.

The Toppers (1-9-4, 0-2-1 Missouri Valley Conference) surrendered two goals in that amount of time in the final 10 minutes of the second half, dropping a 2-1 decision to No.10 Creighton (7-1-3, 2-0-1 MVC).

“We had our moments,” sophomore goalkeeper Pat Rickman said. “We dominated them, they dominated us; it was a regular Division I soccer game.”

Western got out to an early lead in the first half when freshmen midfielder Glen Marshall scored the first goal of his collegiate career.

“I knew that if I just stayed confident and put a lot of pressure on the defense I could score,” Marshall said.

Coach David Holmes said the fact that Creighton was ranked 10th in the nation had little effect on the Toppers.

“Honest to goodness, in our conference it doesn’t matter who’s who or how you spell the name of a team,” Holmes said. “When Creighton comes in here, it doesn’t matter what they’re ranked. It’s an even game.”

Going into halftime the Toppers felt confident they were taking the right steps to secure their first win in the conference, Rickman said.

“The guys were really enthusiastic,” he said. “It was a real good goal for us and it was a big morale booster for our offense.”

The second half proved to be an intense match.

Western continued to be aggressive and go after more goals, out-shooting Creighton 6-5 in the second half.

“For them to be No.10 in the nation, we basically held the led the game until the 80th minute,” Rickman said. “That’s not bad.”

Holmes is looking forward to another chance to play the Creighton team in the conference tournament if they can get there. But he also understands that in order to get there, the team needs to do some things differently.

“For us to get into the tournament we’re going to have to get one on the road,” Holmes said. “This team is good enough to beat anybody if we get into the conference tournament and that’s the challenge right now.”

The Toppers will try to get that road win this weekend when they travel to Drake (8-3-3, 1-0-1 MVC) for a 7 p.m. matchup on Saturday at the Cownie Soccer Complex.

The Bulldogs have scored 31 goals this season.

“Our goal is to go on the road and beat a very good Drake team,” Holmes said.

Reach Ryan Carey at sports@chherald.com.