Marquette’s 12-game winning streak came to a surprising end Friday night in Piscataway, N.J., when it lost 3-2 to South Florida in the semifinals of the Big East Championship.
The Golden Eagles (15-4-2 overall) got goals from freshman defender Taylor Madigan and sophomore forward Rachel Brown, both in the first half.
Madigan got Marquette on the board first, just five minutes into the game, on a pass from senior forward Ashley Bares.
The game went back and forth from there, as South Florida struck 16 minutes later to even the score at 1.
Senior defender Lauren Thut then served a free kick into the box to Brown, who buried the ball far post for her third goal of the season just two minutes later.
However, the Bulls tied and eventually took the lead on two goals in just 10 minutes and sent the Golden Eagles into desperation mode in the second half.
Marquette launched 17 shots in the second half and outshot the Bulls 25-9 for the game, but was unable to come up with an equalizer.
The Golden Eagles lost for the first time this season when scoring first and also when they scored two or more goals.
Marquette will host Central Michigan in the 64-team 2010 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship on Friday at Valley Fields. The time of the game has yet to be determined.
