SOUTH BEND, Ind.—The Marquette women's soccer team knew what it was getting into when it made the trip to South Bend, Ind. to face Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament Friday.

The Fighting Irish had not lost a game all season. In fact, the last Big East match Notre Dame lost was on Sept. 30, 2005 to the Golden Eagles.

Before the Marquette fell 2-0 to the Irish, however, there was still cause for optimism. The only team to lead Notre Dame all season was Marquette, even if it was for just two minutes. On top of that, the Big East's leading scorer, senior forward Kerri Hanks (18 goals, 10 assists), did not suit up for the match.

"Nothing is impossible and nobody's perfect," senior defender Katie Kelly. "We went in with the mindset that we were going to win."

But the Irish had something going in their favor as well. Marquette's leading scorer, Ashley Bares (five goals, two assists), had surgery on an injured shin and did not make the trip.

Bares was sorely missed on Friday, and has been the team's strongest player in the last few matches. She scored the game-winning goal against Pittsburgh and then again versus Rutgers to help Marquette advance to the Big East semifinals.

"I think maybe she could have created a couple more opportunities here and there (against Notre Dame), and she could have been the one putting it away," coach Markus Roeders said. "But it's really more of an overall, all-around effort that has to happen."

The Fighting Irish, being much deeper than the Golden Eagles, were impacted less by the loss of their top scorer than Marquette was. Notre Dame has five players with more points on the season than Bares. Included on that list is freshman forward Melissa Henderson, who is second in the Big East behind Hanks in scoring (16 goals), and led the charge against Marquette with four shots, all of which were on goal.

Henderson wasn't alone either. Notre Dame had nine players combine for 27 shots with 11 on goal, compared to Marquette's four shots and only one on goal.

Marquette goalkeeper Natalie Kulla played extremely well, recording nine saves, but it became apparent early that the Irish attack was just too much for the freshman.

"I think you just go in with the mindset that you've just got to play the best that you can," Kulla said.

Even after allowing the first goal, Roeders said that with the way Kulla was playing, there was still a sense of optimism. But all hopes evaporated only four minutes into the second half when the Fighting Irish made the score 2-0. Kulla left the net open as the Marquette defense deflected a shot and the rebound rolled right back to Notre Dame.

"It was unfortunate that we let in that goal so early in the second half," Roeders said. "That kind of took the air out of it."

Though Roeders did think that Notre Dame was beatable, he hardly seemed surprised by the loss.

"We know who we are playing against," Roeders said. "They are extremely talented and they're the No. 1 ranked team in the country, and they've got all the weapons.

"From their backline, through their midfield, to their frontline, they've got replaceable parts…If they're focused and they want to play for 90 minutes, they can tear you apart, and they've done it to enough teams this year."