Marquette women’s soccer has improved step by step this season. This weekend they added a massive piece to the puzzle: solid defense. The Golden Eagles earned their first shutout of the season Sunday afternoon, defeating St. John’s 2-0.
Freshman goalkeeper Maddy Henry posted six saves on the way to her first collegiate clean sheet.
“It feels great,” Henry said. “We all put in like 110 percent. I think we really deserved it.”
Head coach Markus Roeders was proud his team finally reached its goal of earning a shutout.
“We’ve been knocking on the door,” Roeders said. “We’ve allowed some head-scratching goals and at some point in time you just want to have that feeling. Today we finally had it and in, arguably, maybe the biggest game of the year.”
Morgan Proffitt gave Marquette the lead in the 22nd minute when her cross flew toward the net and over Red Storm keeper Diana Poulin’s head.
Caroline Fink doubled the lead in the second half. She just pushed the ball over the line after Carrie Madden headed Leah Celarek’s corner kick toward goal.
Of Maddy Henry’s six saves, the final one was the biggest. She dove to her right and made the catch to prevent a St. John’s goal with just a minute remaining.
The freshman goalkeeper said this is the Marquette defense fans should see moving forward.
“I’m expecting a couple more shutouts for sure,” Henry said.
The win moves Marquette to 6-5-2 on the season, the first time they’ve had a winning record this year.
The Golden Eagles are now 5-0-1 at home, where they say their goal is to be undefeated all year.
This was the fifth straight game in which Marquette held a 2-0 lead, but the first time during that stretch where the Golden Eagles didn’t give up a goal.
St. John’s had just one loss coming into today’s contest.
Ryley Bugay started for the second game in a row. Her presence next to Morgan Proffitt has been a key to the team’s defensive improvement.
Marquette travels to Cincinnati to take on Xavier (6-6-1, 0-3) Thursday night.
