ST. PAUL, Minn. — After watching the women's soccer team's comeback attempt fall short against Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday, Marquette coach Markus Roeders knew exactly what went wrong.

"We just ran out of time," he said.

Out of time and out of games—the 2-1 loss to the Golden Gophers ended Marquette's 2008 season.

Despite a late goal from junior defender Allison McBride, and several late scoring chances, the Golden Eagles couldn't overcome a shaky start that yielded two goals.

"I think our team was a little bit too emotional trying to play (at the start). Out of that came the first goal, and the second one followed not too far behind," Roeders said. "That kind of put us behind the eight ball."

Roeders attributed some of that excess emotion to the fact that most of Marquette's roster had never played in an NCAA Tournament game before. Marquette started junior goalkeeper Chelsey Turner, who transferred to Marquette from Minnesota before the season but hadn't started a game for the Golden Eagles since Oct. 19.

Turner started in place of freshman Natalie Kulla, who had posted a 9-5-2 record and 0.79 goals against average in the regular season and Big East Tournament.

"We've had those rotations throughout the year," Roeders said. "I think one thing that you always have to understand is (even though) you want to win games . you also want them to enjoy the experience of getting to this point as much as you want to advance as a team."

Minnesota's first goal came in the eighth minute after a Katie Kelly foul gave the Golden Gophers a penalty kick. Midfielder Kelsey Hood found a loose ball directly in front of the Marquette net and fired a shot in traffic that somehow found its way between a Marquette defender and Turner.

The second goal came from midfielder Julie Rezac who received a high lob from midfielder Clare Grimwood about 12 yards out. Rezac established position on senior defender Katie Kelly and, when Turner hesitated in front of the goal, was able to head the ball into the net.

"Don't blame anybody, because at the end of the day you win and lose as a team," Roeders said. "When you're around (the players) every day, you understand how they are and how they function.

"You can look at the first goal and see what happened…you can go all the way back and see why the set play happened in the first place and the foul."

In the second half, with Kulla replacing Turner in goal, the Golden Eagles were more competitive. McBride's goal came in the 75th minute on an assist from Kelly who played a free kick from 18 yards out.

"I had been practicing free kicks right from that position," Kelly said. "It was accurate enough that I think it could have gone in on its own, but I was glad someone was there."

But Marquette missed the scoring ability of injured sophomore Ashley Bares (shin), who led the team in goals this season with five. The Golden Eagles fired six shots on goal but generated few legitimate scoring chances.

Minnesota was able to fend off what opportunities the Golden Eagles did create and grind out what time was left in Marquette's season.

"We haven't been here before, and I was really proud with how we handled the game," Minnesota coach Mikki Denney Wright said. "The way we killed off the game at the end really showed a lot of composure."