The Marquette women’s soccer team shutout the Providence Friars in a two-goal victory, punching its ticket to the Big East Semifinals and a matchup against conference regular season champion DePaul.

The two squads kicked off on a chilly Milwaukee night and Marquette had possession early on. A shot by sophomore Darian Powell in the third minute of the game set the pace for the Golden Eagles. Powell nearly got her first of the game when she put a great shot on net, but Providence keeper Kristyn Shea made a diving stop to keep the game at zero.

It wouldn’t last long, as Powell finally put one past Shea in the 18th minute. The Golden Eagles got a corner kick and senior midfielder Mary Luba put the ball into the box, where senior defender Haley Fritzlen directed it to Powell. Powell buried the shot to give Marquette the 1-0 lead.

Coach Markus Roeders said Powell has been a goal scorer all year for the Golden Eagles, so its not surprising she scored again.

“That’s what she’s good at,” Roeders said. “There’s a bunch of players in the league who have the knack for scoring those goals … and she’s definitely one of them.”

Providence tested the Golden Eagle back line near the end of the half, when leading scorer Catherine Zimmerman had some scoring chances. Her best came in the 31st minute, when Zimmerman took a free kick inches outside the box. Zimmerman put the shot on goal and junior goalkeeper Amanda Engel had to make a kick save, and then Zimmerman put the rebound over the net. That would be all for the Friars, as Marquette took the 1-0 lead into the half.

Marquette came out in the second half and immediately established the offense. Just two minutes into the second half, the Golden Eagles had three consecutive corner kicks. On the third try, junior defender Jacie Jermier put the corner into the box, where Fritzlen headed the ball into the net for the 2-0 lead. The goal gave Marquette a huge momentum boost and carried the team through the rest of the half.

Roeders said getting the goal early in the second half helped the Golden Eagles control play for the rest of the game.

“Scoring right after halftime, I think that really, overall, kind of helped us and carry us through for the rest of the match,” Roeders said.

The Friars tried to comeback and get chip away at the lead, but Engel and the Marquette defense wouldn’t allow it. The 64th minute saw the best chance of the half when a Friar cross went into the box, where Providence had numbers. But, the ball went untouched and out the back for a Marquette goal kick.

Fritzlen said the Golden Eagles did a good job of shutting down Zimmerman and the rest of the Friar offense.

“Defensively, as a team, we did really well,” Fritzlen said. “All of us were really organized and kept it tight in the back.”

Marquette wound down the clock by maintaining possession and attacking the Providence defense. When the buzzer sounded, the Golden Eagles had the 2-0 victory and advanced to take on DePaul in the Big East Semifinals.

Roeders said the team knows it will be a difficult matchup against DePaul, but the team wanted to prove itself against the best in the conference.

“We know we’re going to have a difficult match ahead of us,” Roeders said. “I think we’re going to put our best foot forward.”