Standing a whopping 5-foot-2, sophomore midfielder Michelle Compty often defers to other members of the Marquette women's soccer team in terms of drawing attention on the field during games, but for a few brief seconds of the 52nd minute Friday night, she drew just enough.

She drew just enough attention to make sure senior forward Christy Zwolski was wide open on the near post. She drew just enough attention to make sure Zwolski and the other eight Marquette seniors enjoyed their final collegiate home game underneath the lights of Valley Fields.

She drew just enough attention to help push the Golden Eagles to a 1-0 win over St. John's, improving Marquette's record to 11-2-1 (4-2-0 Big East). "It was a mental thing," Compty said. "We're tight in our conference, so there was a lot riding on this game. Sunday was a demeaning loss. We had to come back with that much more intensity, and we did."

Just after the intermission, junior defender Katie Kelly served a ball from near the right sideline into the St. John's box. Compty was on the receiving end, heading the ball and splitting two defenders in the process.

"People were going straight at (Compty), so I had time to chest (the ball), bring it down and tap it in," Zwolski said. "No one was on me. It was almost a free goal."

The goal was Zwolski's fifth of the season, and it infused the Golden Eagles with the confidence they had been in search of since falling to Georgetown 3-1 last Sunday. Senior midfielder Michelle Martin said the team locker room was filled with a different "aura" than was present prior to Sunday's match. She said the players understood they had to beat St. John's considering both teams' positions in the Big East American Division standings.

Heading into the match, Marquette and St. John's were tied for third place. After the win, the Golden Eagles not only are three points higher than the Red Storm in the standings, they also own the tiebreaker should the teams finish the season with the same conference record.

The win "not only boosted our confidence, it brought us up in the conference standings and kept us up there," Martin said. "Had we lost or tied, it would have been a bash on our own confidence."

Marquette associate head coach Frank Pelaez said the Golden Eagles were more focused on defense and the communication on the backline was much improved Friday night. Head coach Markus Roeders attributed the defensive improvement to players covering for each other.

"If it looked like the ball was loose, there was always another leg coming through," Roeders said. "You have to get yourself in that zone where everyone is zoomed in and everyone is on the same page."

For the past two weekends, Marquette has claimed wins in the first game but has fallen in the second, a trend Roeders said his team has to overcome.

"We've proven that we're a good team under the lights," Roeders said. "The real test is now going to be Sunday."