Scoring goals was never the women's soccer team's forte in the 2008 fall season. The Golden Eagles were shut out seven times and only once scored more than two goals in a match.

This spring has featured a different Marquette squad — one coach Markus Roeders is very pleased with.

"We're happy, it's the spring, and it's always good to play soccer," Roeders said. "We are using the spring as a learning tool because spring is all about learning."

In five spring meetings, the Golden Eagles have netted seven goals — a majority of which came against Stephen F. Austin and most recently Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Although it took a little extra time, the Golden Eagles found the back of the net with great success against Wis.-Milwaukee Thursday at Valley Fields, notching a 3-2 victory.

"Positives from the game were that we scored goals which has been our goal since last fall and also that we fought until the very end," sophomore midfielder Julia Victor said.

The Panthers were first to get on the board when sophomore midfielder Heather Roadhouse volleyed the ball in off of a corner kick.

About 10 minutes later, Marquette sophomore Lauren Acree answered back with a nifty run of her own. She beat three defenders before lofting the ball over Wis.-Milwaukee's keeper and into the net.

The second half was a stalemate as neither team could break through, and the game was deadlocked 1-1 going into extra time.

In traditional spring exhibition play, the teams played two 15 minute halves, but did not apply the golden goal rule where the first team to score first wins.

Just six minutes into the first extra frame, Marquette junior midfielder Brittany Bares placed a cross directly on the right foot of Victor who buried her shot, putting the Golden Eagles up 2-1.

However, Wis.-Milwaukee's leading goal scorer from the fall, Sarah Hagen, tied the game at two apiece with a brilliant strike from 25 yards out.

It wasn't until the 119th minute that Danielle Martens headed in a rebound off the crossbar to tally the game-winner for the host Golden Eagles.

"For us to come back it speaks to the character of where our team is right now," Roeders said. "We're trying to develop an attitude that says until the final whistle blows, we are in the game and have an opportunity to win."

Acree was pleased with the team's ability to pull out a win at home against a good Wis.-Milwaukee squad.

"I think our team is more fit and we haven't beat UWM in a while so it's nice to get a win," she said. "It's always a good feeling to beat UWM, and you also never want to lose at home."

Marquette completed its spring season at Soldier Field in Chicago Sunday and Victor thought highly of the team's overall spring performance.

"It feels like we're very optimistic for the fall, because we have another nine players coming in, and they could bring a lot more," she said. "But overall there was just something different about the spring . something extra I can't explain."