Practicing in the Old Marquette Gymnasium on Tuesday, the women's soccer team split up into four teams by year in school and played a little 4-on-4.

The rules were simple: after four minutes, one player from each team is removed; following that, another player from each team is taken out every twenty seconds; first team to score a goal wins.

After a regular season in which the Golden Eagles won six games by a 1-0 score, the "first team to score wins" has become an engrained mentality.

"We just have this confidence," said freshman defender Katie Kelly. "We know everything will be fine."

Given Marquette's recent history in close games, confidence should be an abundant team resource.

Four times this season, the Golden Eagles came back from a one-goal deficit to win a game. Five times, they won a match in overtime.

In the last three years, the women's soccer team is 9-3-3 in overtime matches, and it hasn't lost in overtime since Nov. 5, 2003, against DePaul in the Conference USA tournament.

"We're pretty relentless (in overtime). We don't give teams many chances (to win)," said sophomore forward Christy Zwolski. "It puts more drive into you knowing that when you score, the game's over."

According to several players, the driving force behind the team's relentless attitude in close games is an experienced senior class.

"We can see how much they want it," Kelly said. "Things haven't gone their way a lot (in the past)."

Even in practice, the seniors pick up their intensity and level of play to another level, knowing that this is their last run.

"The senior leadership has been huge this year. They are supportive on and off the field, and they keep pushing us to get better," said junior forward Meghan Connelly. "The seniors refuse to lose."

That 4-on-4 tournament at the Old Gym? The seniors went 7-0, and their dominance frustrated the rest of a team that has become accustomed to success this season.

After the tournament was over, the entire team stretched in silence. The non-seniors were mad, not with each other or with the seniors, but with the fact that they had lost.

"Everyone is really competitive," Connelly said. "We know that we make each other better by being so competitive."

Heading into the season-opener against then-No. 13 Illinois, few people outside the Marquette women's soccer program were predicting a win.

Not only did the Golden Eagles prevail 1-0 in that match, they followed it up with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Northwestern two days later.

The Illinois win did much for the team's morale given the Illini had beaten Marquette 4-0 in an exhibition match the last time the two teams met.

The Northwestern win set the path for what would become a familiar trail to victory throughout the season.

Combine an ultra-competitive nature with the confidence bred from a 19-3-1 record, and suddenly, playing teams with more individual talent doesn't seem so daunting a task.

"We know the teams we play are good," Kelly said. "So when we get scored on, it's not that big a deal."

The Golden Eagles have proven as much with their propensity for comeback wins and overtime triumphs.

"There's a certain level of maturity with these girls," said head coach Markus Roeders. "The players on the field know they've been there before."

So when only 20 seconds remained in a second-round NCAA tournament match knotted at 0-0 versus a cross-town rival that had drawn a 0-0 double overtime tie earlier in the season, the Golden Eagles weren't stressing over the thought of another sudden-death scenario.

They were thinking of scoring a goal on Wisconsin-Milwaukee and ending the game.

"It's who we are. We strive to win it outright," Zwolski said. "Up until the final whistle blows, we want that goal."