Marquette women’s soccer earned its first win in Big East play since Sept. 25, defeating Villanova, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields.
“We knew what we were capable of doing and I’m gonna hold them to those standards every game,” Marquette head coach Frank Pelaez said. “I told them that in the locker room if we come out with our foot (first), good things are gonna happen. We were challenging everything, 50-50 balls, we were attacking. We had a game plan and they executed it.”
It did not take long for Marquette’s offense to show up in its final match of the two game home stand.
Junior forward Elsi Twombly recorded the Golden Eagles first shot on the afternoon in the third minute when she dribbled her way into the box but her shot was saved by Villanova graduate student goalkeeper Megan McClay.
Marquette then struck 11 minutes later when Twombly headed home a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Mia Haertle to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.
“It felt good. It was a lot of confidence under the belt,” Twombly said. “It was a great ball by Mia and then it just ended up in the back of the net which is great.”
Pelaez said he was pleased with how proactive his team began in the first half.
“We scored first and we scored on a corner kick,” Pelaez said. “We score off corner kicks, we score off turnovers, we score in transition. We’re gonna run at people and everybody plays very sexy out of the back. We’re ugly as hell.”
Twombly’s goal sent the Golden Eagles into the locker room leading for the first time since Sept. 25 against Butler.
Marquette’s offensive attack continued in the second half but were unable to capitalize on the opportunities.
With the 1-0 win, the Golden Eagles secured their third shutout win of the season. Sophomore goalkeeper finished with one save on five shots faced.
The defense came through as sophomore goalkeeper Chloe Olson and the backline secured a clean sheet, making it their third clean sheet of the season. When asked about how important this was in Sunday’s match, Pelaez said it was “crucial.”
“You allow them (Villanova) one goal, they’re back in the game, you give them hope and it’s not good,” Pelaez said.
Senior defender Katie Koker made her return to the field in the 30th minute after missing the last two games with an injury suffered Oct. 2 against UConn.
Meanwhile senior midfielder Katrina Wetherell, who returned from injury Oct. 6 at Seton Hall, earned her first start since Aug. 25 against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Wetherell finished with four shots with one on target in 86 minutes of action.
The Golden Eagles outnumbered the Wildcats in nearly every category, including outshooting Villanova 19-5 on the afternoon.
“The offense was really good and really strong,” Twombly said. “We just need to finish more of those opportunities obviously, but it’s (a) really good effort overall.”
Marquette (7-6-2, 3-3-1 Big East) will now travel to Washington, D.C. to face Georgetown (11-1-4, 7-0-1 Big East) Thursday at 1 p.m. CST.
“We just need to focus on our game,” Twombly said. “Obviously, they’re a tough team, but there’s nothing we can do about that. If we play our best game, that’s all we can do.”
This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @KaylynnWrightMU.
