It took the Marquette women’s soccer team just 13 minutes and 57 seconds to get on the board in its 3-0 victory Sunday against Seton Hall.
Seton Hall (4-7-1, 0-4-1 Big East) was far from the toughest competitor Marquette has faced this season. But following a 3-1 loss to No. 13 Rutgers Friday—not to mention a letdown 0-0 draw against Pittsburgh last Sunday—the Golden Eagles were pleased just to get back to their winning ways.
“It’s so great, because we work so hard,” senior midfielder Kelly Wepking said. “I feel like in every game we are outworking teams, and we’re just not getting the ball in the back of the net.”
After a few missed opportunities, sophomore forward Rachael Sloan finally made good on one as junior defender Lauren Thut found her alone on the right side with just Seton Hall freshman keeper, Jennifer Pettigrew, in front of her. Sloan got Pettigrew to commit, then casually went around her and knocked it in to give Marquette the 1-0 lead.
The goal was Sloan’s third of the season, but she was quick to pass the praise on to her teammates.
“It all built up from Lauren Thut in the back,” she said. “She served the ball on the ground long. And Lindsey Paige was there, and she kind of distorted it a little bit—she fell and it got through because it caused her defender to miss it too. … It got through my defender too, and I just sprinted on to it, the goalie came out, I passed it around her and the goal was wide open.”
From there, Marquette was able to find almost whatever it wanted.
With 9:29 left in the first half, Thut took a free kick from the right corner and laid it right in front of the goal for Wepking—probably the shortest player on the field—to head in.
Then, with just over seven minutes left, Thut got a throw in to sophomore forward Danielle Martens, who found freshman midfielder Ashley Stemmeler coming across. The Pirates’ keeper thought Stemmeler was going right but instead she floated the ball left, far post, putting the Golden Eagles up 3-0 going into the intermission.
Marquette got away from its game plan a little in the second frame, and with mostly reserves playing, the team was unable to put any more points on the board. The defense did its job, however, and kept Seton Hall from finding any real scoring opportunities before the final whistle.
“It feels really good,” coach Markus Roeders said of his team getting its first win in its last four contests. “These are tough games, because emotionally you come off the loss Friday (against Rutgers), and you feel like you worked hard and you didn’t earn anything.
“So for us to come back today and, against the wind in the first half, to score three goals, I think that speaks volumes.”
The Golden Eagles’ next game will be against Connecticut on Friday at 7 p.m. at Valley Fields.
