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Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Women’s soccer loses first regular season home game since 2010

Photo by Vale Cardenas/valeria.cardenas@marquette.edu
Photo by Vale Cardenas/[email protected]

The Marquette women’s soccer team played vastly different games in its 3-0 victory against Loyola-Chicago and 1-0 defeat by Northwestern. The loss to Northwestern was the team’s first regular-season home loss since its 1-0 loss to New Mexico in 2010.

In the opening match of the Marquette Invitational, Marquette and Loyola-Chicago played a back-and-forth game. Marquette held possession for the majority of the game, and had numerous chances in the first half, but none managed to get past the Rambler goaltender. In fact, it took until the 80th minute for the Golden Eagles to get on the board.

Sophomore Ashley Handwork notched the first goal of the season off a cross from senior Mady Vicker. Vicker handled the ball on the right side of the net, when she kicked across to Handwork, who netted a shot to the right side.

Redshirt freshman Darian Powell said that once the team scored the first goal, it was already thinking about the second.

“Once we get one goal, we want to get another,” Powell said. “It was kind of just a team effort.”

Head coach Markus Roeders said the goal helped Marquette finish strong.

“That, I think, kind of set the tone because I think it really deflated (Loyola-Chicago),” Roeders said.

Nine minutes later, Powell secured the game for the Golden Eagles, scoring two goals within a minute, both coming off passes from sophomore Liz Bartels.
With Powell streaking toward the box, Bartels gave her a touch pass and Powell went in on the Rambler goaltender one-on-one. Powell kicked the ball to the right side of the net, and it bounced off the post for her first goal of the game to give Marquette a 2-0 lead.

Less than a minute later, Bartels controlled the ball on the right end line and crossed it into the box. Powell picked up the pass and went to the left side of the net, past the goaltender, for her second of the night to give Marquette a 3-0 lead.

Powell gave credit to Bartels for setting her up for both goals.

“It was such a blur,” Powell said. “Thanks to my teammate (Bartels), she did all the work. I just put it in the back of the net.”

Even with less than a minute left in the game, Roeders said he teaches his players to play until the final whistle.

“We always talk about that as long as there’s time on the clock we’re going to try to score,” Roeders said. “I don’t think we really let up. I think it’s something that’s instilled in the team.”

With spirits flying high, Marquette came into Sunday’s match against Northwestern looking for another win. But the team came out flat, and the Wildcats were able to control most of the first half. Marquette was held to three shots and none on goal, while Northwestern was able to take five shots, three of which required saves from Marquette goaltender Amanda Engel. But after the first half, it was still 0-0.

“I don’t think we particularly started very well today,” Roeders said. “I thought we actually moved the ball out of the back line well, but then we didn’t get a whole lot of offense going.”

The two teams returned to the pitch for the second half, and things started to get chippy quickly. Just six minutes into the second half, Morgan Proffitt received a yellow card for fouling a Northwestern player. Sophomore midfielder Meegan Johnston received a yellow card in the 75th minute after getting tangled up with a Northwestern player. And Northwestern midfielder Georgia Waddle was carded for pushing down a Marquette player in the 88th minute.

“I thought it was a good physical game, not overly physical,” Roeders said.

Unable to get a steady flow, Marquette still couldn’t get the offensive pressure it capitalized on against Loyola-Chicago. In the 82nd minute, Wildcat midfielder Niki Sebo stole the ball and went into the Marquette box on a 3-on-1. Sebo passed to forward Addie Steiner, who shot it past the diving Engel for the only goal of the game.

The Golden Eagles had a quality chance for an equalizer after the Waddle yellow card, but were unable to convert and suffered the 1-0 loss.

“It doesn’t feel a whole lot different from when we lost to Western Michigan here last fall,” Roeders said.

The game was a stark contrast offensively from Marquette’s 3-0 win Friday, however. Against Northwestern, the Golden Eagles only had one shot on goal, while the team had seven against Loyola-Chicago. Marquette also had eight corner kicks against Loyola-Chicago, and only two against Northwestern.

“We’ll keep working on the areas obviously we need to improve on and offense is definitely one of them right now,” Roeders said.

Despite the loss, four players received accolades for their play in the Marquette Invitational. Powell, who was unable to play in the game against Northwestern because of a nagging knee injury, Bartels and senior midfielder Mary Luba were all named to the All-Marquette Invitational team, and Engel was named Defensive MVP  of the tournament.

This isn’t the first time Marquette has lost early in the season. Last year, the Golden Eagles fell to Portland and California-Los Angeles in its first three games. The team went on to finish the season 18-4-0 and 9-0-0 in Big East play. Marquette will look to get back in the win column against Minnesota Friday night in Minneapolis, Minn.

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