Friday’s 4-3 loss to the University of Portland Pilots on home turf was a bitter pill to swallow for the Marquette women’s soccer team.
“We felt like we let one get away a little bit,” head coach Markus Roeders said on Sunday.
Instead of letting themselves get dragged through the mud, his team used Friday’s match to ignite a spark.
A 3-0 victory over the Boston University Terriors on Sunday could prove to be an early turning point in the Golden Eagles season. The win kept the team from going 1-3 for the second consecutive season.
Marquette controlled the tempo from start to finish, getting early chances from forward Darian Powell and center back Morgan Proffitt. Junior midfielder Liz Bartels netted the first goal of the match in the 20th minute after a deflection off a BU defender.
Redshirt sophomore forward Molly Pfeiffer scored off a Bartels pass in the 56th minute and junior center back Erin Holland, making her first start of the season, scored a header through traffic in the 85th.
“The whole team stepped it up today,” Bartels said. “We wanted to bring more energy and urgency on the attack.”
She cited Friday’s tough loss as a motivating factor to hit the ground running.
Roeders made a staggering 13 substitutions on Sunday, including the season debuts of juniors Alyssa Devine and Cali Pyzdrowski and freshman Bri Jaeger.
“At some point in time you’ve got to give them the chance to be out there,” Roeders said of utilizing his deep roster at any point in the match. “You can’t just do it in games where you’re winning by a large margin.”
The Golden Eagles outshot BU 16-7 and commanded corner kick opportunities 10-2. They remain home this week as they prepare for Minnesota on Friday night at Valley Fields.
News and notes
– Senior keeper Amanda Engel recorded her first clean sheet of the season Sunday – a step in the right direction after giving up four goals Friday, including a penalty conversion by her own foul. Coach Roeders said her biggest keys for success are managing the game and getting help from the line in front of her.
– Senior captain Jacie Jermier made her first start in the midfield this season after starting the previous three games at left back. Jermier’s speed and leadership gives the team a different dynamic, which Roeders attributes to the addition of Erin Holland on the back line.
– Marquette is playing clean soccer, highlighted by just 28 fouls committed through four games and no yellow cards received. In comparison, conference foe DePaul (3-0-1) has committed 43 fouls and has three yellows thus far.
– The Golden Eagles’ six goals scored this weekend were their most in a weekend split since scoring a combined eight against Creighton and Villanova 9/25-28/14
