The difficulty of Marquette women’s soccer’s non-conference schedule is beginning to pile up.
No. 24 Northwestern (7-0-0) handed the Golden Eagles their fourth loss of the season Sunday afternoon, 1-0.
The Wildcats started taking over a back and forth game late in the first half. They were rewarded for their efforts with a headed goal from Hannah Davison just before halftime.
Mary Erikson sent a long-distance free kick to the far side of the box. Davison was able to fire it back across the goal, beating Maddy Henry for the only goal of the game. There were just two minutes remaining in the first half when she scored.
Markus Roeders’ side threatened Northwestern’s all-time shutout leader, Lauren Clem, with a pair of corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but neither chance resulted in a shot on goal.
The Wildcats responded with a flurry of quality shots that forced Henry into four difficult saves in five minutes. The freshman goalkeeper was up for the challenge, coming up with a career-high eight saves.
Ashley Handwork and Eli Beard fired shots from outside the box around the 70th minute. Handwork’s curler required a save from Clem, but it didn’t have the necessary power to equalize.
The senior goalkeeper denied a quality Marquette chance in the 75th minute, when Erin Holland sent a header across the box from a corner kick.
Clem’s best moment came in the 89th minute, when she gathered a loose ball in her own box after a great delivery from a Dunker free kick.
Northwestern nearly sealed the deal in the 80th minute with a powerful strike from Nandi Mehta that beat Henry, but sailed just over the bar.
The Wildcats fended off the Golden Eagles’ advances for the last ten minutes to earn their seventh straight win to start the season.
This was the eighth time in nine games this season the Golden Eagles have given up the first goal of the game.
Marquette fell to 2-4-2 on the year with the loss. They host Cal Poly (4-2-1) and Cal State Northridge (3-1-3) next weekend at Valley Fields Friday night and Sunday afternoon, respectively.
