Marquette women’s soccer remains undefeated after taking down the DePaul Blue Demons 2-0 in a mid-afternoon showdown in Chicago. Marquette’s two goals came from Katrina Wetherell and Elsi Twombly.
The highlight of the day was with Lauren Schill in net, as she had a near-perfect performance. The first-year keeper kept out all threats in the contest. She picked up six saves and her first BIG EAST clean sheet. Schill saw minutes during the Chicago State match-up as well, but was at top tier performance today.
DePaul outshot Marquette 16 to 6, but only had three more shots on target. The Blue Demons had several chances throughout the game, but they weren’t enough to get past Schill and the Golden Eagle defense.
Schill had several key saves, the biggest coming late in the game as she tipped a hard DePaul shot off the woodwork. Later, Schill came up big, as a DePaul break-away resulted in a net-minder pushed a low strike just wide of the net.
The game was very physical, as both teams acquired seven fouls each and several players went down during the game.
Alexa Maletis, the first-year forward, went down just after Marquette’s first goal and didn’t return. Twombly also left the field injured after she netted the second goal for the Golden Eagles.
Wetherell was able to put a half-volley past Mollie Eriksson, the junior DePaul netminder, to break the deadlock. The Golden Eagles had one shot on target in the first half, but were able to convert on their second shot on net just 76 seconds into the second half.
The second goal came in the 75th minute from Twombly, who was able to direct a Caitlin Cunningham cross into the net.
Similar to Marquette’s goalkeeper, Cunningham, the first-year defender/midfielder, also has only seen minutes against Chicago State but was able to pick-up her first assist. The second goal would prove the dagger for the BIG EAST match-up.
Marquette continues to be a team of two halves. The Golden Eagles have scored 8 of their 10 goals so far in the second half. Today, DePaul was dominant in the first half but the Golden Eagles were able to pick up their play in the second and keep their win streak alive.
The Golden Eagles (3-0, 1-0 BIG EAST) will hit the road for Indianapolis Thursday to take on Butler University.
This article was written by Bryan Geenen. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @BryanGeenen.
