Take care of business at home.
That seems to be the mantra for the Marquette women’s soccer team (10-2-0, 3-1-0 Big East) this year.
The Golden Eagles beat DePaul 2-1 Thursday and defending national champion Notre Dame 3-2 Sunday, both in overtime, to vault into sole possession of second place in the American Division of the Big East conference.
Sunday’s win was particularly impressive considering the treacherous conditions from overnight rain that pervaded throughout the match.
The game began under threatening skies and opened up about halfway through the first half, leading to many slippages from both teams, making even the most mundane tasks like dribbling and passing difficult.
“I think we got used to it, but there were a bunch of slips and misplays,” sophomore midfielder Taylor Madigan said. “But the conditions were the same for both teams.”
Madigan ripped a shot off the outstretched hand of junior goalkeeper Maddie Fox into the net just 18 seconds into the first overtime period to beat Notre Dame (4-5-1, 1-2-1 Big East) for just the second time in program history.
The win gave the Golden Eagles their fourth overtime victory in as many opportunities this season and pushed its unbeaten home winning streak to 16 games.
“It keeps our spirit up. We definitely needed this game and this win,” sophomore forward Maegan Kelly said. “It’s just a push going forward in the season.”
Thursday, Marquette found itself in a closer game than expected entering the night, having to get a few lucky breaks from the crossbar before freshman forward Mady Vicker took a perfect pass from sophomore midfielder Brittney Scott and finished low past the Blue Demons goalkeeper.
DePaul (2-7-2, 0-2-2 Big East) came into the game 2-1-1 in its last four games after dropping its first five and put a big scare into Marquette.
Kelly scored her 10th goal of the season just six minutes into the match, but DePaul got the equalizer from Morgan Celaya in the 71st minute and had a few opportunities to get a potential game-winner before Vicker’s goal.
“We really dominated the first half but didn’t necessarily have a lot of chances in the second half,” coach Markus Roeders said following Thursday’s game. “The tying goal was a little unfortunate, but in the last eight or so minutes of regulation, we really stepped up and continued it into overtime.”
After Kelly’s goal in the 66th minute of the Notre Dame match, Marquette improved to 15-0-0 all-time.
The final outcome was in doubt after the Fighting Irish’s Jessica Schuveiller blasted a perfect shot from 35 yards out that the outstretched arms of senior goalkeeper Natalie Kulla had no chance of saving. Schuveiller’s goal tied the game at 2-2 and set up Madigan’s goal in overtime.
Even with key injuries to sophomore defender Megan Jaskowiak and senior forward Lindsey Page, Marquette’s depth proved insurmountable when Madigan’s golden goal improved Marquette’s record to 21-10-5 when playing National Division foes.
“We’ve had some injuries but have a lot of great depth, and it’s good for some of the younger players to get some experience,” Roeders said.
