Marquette women’s soccer entered Thursday night’s matchup with No. 24 Xavier looking to secure a spot in the Big East Tournament for the first time since 2017.
Instead, a 1-1 draw to the Musketeers and other results across the conference eliminated the Golden Eagles from postseason plat.
“We had a game plan and they executed it perfectly,” Marquette head coach Frank Pelaez said. “We were going to try to disrupt everything they did and that’s exactly what we did. I’m really proud of the girls for believing in what we’re trying to do. Everyone left everything they could out there.”
The Musketeers started off quickly with their first shot coming in the fourth minute by senior forward Emma Marcus from just outside the box, but it sailed high over the crossbar.
Marquette’s first shot didn’t come until the 17th minute when a cross by senior midfielder Isabella Cook was sent into the box, but senior midfielder Elizabeth Bueckers could not finish the header as it bounced off the crossbar, leaving the game scoreless.
The Golden Eagles struck first in the 33rd minute when senior midfielder Katrina Wetherell found the back of the net off a deflection by Xavier first-year goalkeeper Maria Galley. It was Wetherell’s first goal of the season.
It looked as if Marquette was going to have the lead going into halftime.
But in the 43rd minute, Xavier graduate student Molly McLaughlin fired a ball into the box and found junior forward Grace Blumfeldt who put a foot to the ball, placing it past senior goalkeeper Mikki Easter tying the game 1-1.
Neither team found the back of the net again in the remaining minutes of the half, and the Golden Eagles went into the locker room without a lead.
In the last 45 minutes of the match, tough defense was played by both sides as neither team was able to finish any other scoring opportunities.
Marquette concluded the season with a 7-7-4, 3-4-3 Big East record.
Pelaez said that despite the disappointing end, he was proud of how his team trusted him throughout the whole season.
“I felt that this group trusted me and they know I trusted them,” Pelaez said. “It was just a process that we’ve been trying to make ourselves better every game and we did that. I thought we played probably our best game and it was our last game, so I’m proud of them.”
This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @KaylynnWrightMU.
