Something ugly looked certain to settle a drab, rain-soaked encounter Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields. No. 20 Marquette, which lost its first game of the season against No. 18 Connecticut on Friday, and Providence, which had not scored a goal in two previous Big East games, toiled amid scrappy conditions and equally scrappy play.

Junior forward Lauren Weber embraced the spirit of sloppiness with an unconventional winning goal as the Golden Eagles (9-1-1, 2-1-0) won 2-0 in a game that was delayed 40 minutes in the middle of the first half due to lightning.

Freshman defender Katie Kelly sprinted up the right wing and cut inside. She played it through to Weber, who withstood a challenge from the Friar goalkeeper and managed to nudge the ball across the line in the 49th minute.

"I knew she was going to play it through, and she saw me making that run, and she played a perfect ball," Weber said. "Luckily I didn't completely screw it up. … It went in. That's all that matters."

Rebounding from a 2-1 loss at Connecticut and regaining momentum entering this Friday's match against defending national champion Notre Dame mattered most for the Golden Eagles on Sunday. The game began at a lethargic pace before the storm clouds entered and lightning delayed action in the 19th minute.

After play resumed, Providence (3-5-1, 0-2-1) matched Marquette's tenacity in the muddy midfield trenches but never recovered from Weber's goal early in the second half.

Freshman forward Emily Fitzpatrick, who had not played all season prior to Sunday, doubled the lead in the 81st minute. Freshman defender Allison McBride intercepted a pass and released Fitzpatrick, who chipped the onrushing Friar keeper with her left foot.

"At halftime, (Roeders) told us someone was going to have to step up and that it could be anybody," Fitzpatrick said.

It really could have been anybody, because 11 reserves saw action in the game, and head coach Markus Roeders frequently rotated players late in the second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Christy Smith made a fine diving save during her brief shift in the closing minutes.

"Today we showed that at any point in time we are going to ask somebody to step up," Roeders said. "That's what we're asking of them, and sometimes it's easy for the ones who play all the time. It's hard for the ones that either play a little bit here and there or don't get to play."

The squad needed injections of energy from the bench after Friday's setback.

Marquette's unbeaten season ended with a loss in Storrs, Conn. against the nationally ranked Huskies.

"I thought we were disciplined and tactically organized," Roeders said. "We did everything we could except we had nothing to show for it."

Uconn's Elizabeth Eng converted a cross from Kristi Lefebvre to take an early lead.

Junior forward Alison Loughrin tied the game off Kelly's corner kick in the 39th minute. Loughrin has scored three of her four goals this season coming off the bench.

Eng scored the winner in the 64th minute, and the Huskies (7-2-1, 3-0-0) held on despite Marquette's pressure.

"We had more chances that game, so we were kind of disappointed," Weber said. "We wanted to show everyone that we should have won Friday and that we weren't going to let it bother us."

As Sunday's result showed, neither the loss nor the rain bothered them.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 27, 2005.