Markus Roeders’ Marquette side (2-3-0) fell 2-1 at the hands of the Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-1-1) in extra-time on Friday evening, closing out their first three-game in seven day stretch of the 2015 season. The loss moves their OT record to 0-2 on the year.
“I feel for our team,” Roeders said. “It was heartbreak here. I thought we put a lot of effort into the game. [We played with] a lot of heart and energy. I thought we had a lot of great spells where we played great soccer and obviously we tied it back up after making a mistake in the first half and falling behind. To get into overtime and let it slip away…is disappointing.”
The Golden Eagles looked more poised than Minnesota to strike first coming out of the gate, notching attack after attack into the Minnesota defensive third, but none would muster up enough strength to pose a significant threat to Tarah Hobbs’ net as the last touch seemed to consistently get away from the home side.
As the game began to settle in near the first quarter of an hour mark, Minnesota seized their opportunity to go up on Marquette when an errant pass from sophomore defender Madison Dunker was intercepted by April Bockin and taken into the heart of the penalty area before she finished a shot – her first goal of the season – into the far corner of the net past senior keeper Amanda Engel for the 1-0 lead.
Marquette continuously found themselves knocking on the Minnesota door, but the call would not be answered until the late moments of the game when a Jacie Jermier corner floated into the box and to the head of Molly Pfeiffer past Hobbs to level the match at one.
The Golden Eagles nearly sent the crowds home happy with a three shot counter-attack from junior forward Darian Powell, Pfeiffer and Jermier in the 89th minute, but the Gophers defense held strong and forced the game into extra-time.
No more than four minutes of the extra time period would be necessary, as Minnesota’s Haley Halverson hit a low liner from 25-yards out past Engel to give the visitors a 2-1 victory.
The Golden Eagles will have a six-day break before opening up the Marquette Invitational against Northern Arizona next Friday evening at Valley Fields.
