A 19-10 shots advantage didn’t have any effect on the outcome for Marquette women’s soccer on Sunday, as the Golden Eagles went to a scoreless draw with Northern Illinois. It’s the second straight scoreless draw for Marquette as they move to 3-0-3 on the season, and their third straight draw after a 1-1 tie with Wisconsin back on August 23.
The upside of the whole thing is that Marquette has not allowed a goal in over 200 minutes and they have yet to allow a goal that’s not a penalty kick at all this
season. The downside of the whole thing is that Marquette has not scored a goal in over 190 minutes. One of these things is much more exciting than the other.
Marquette was probably ever so slightly lucky to not allow a penalty kick in this match. Past the 70 minute mark of the game, MU keeper Mia Hurd went to her side to make a play on the ball. She was all the way out to the side edge of the 18 yard box, so it would seem that she was trying to keep the ball in play. What happened was the ball bounced in the box, Hurd played it in the air, and then it landed outside the box and Hurd’s hand was on the ball. Almost all of her body was inside the box, but her hand was on the ball outside the box. A loooooooong VAR session AND a huddle up by the referees AND a long explanation to the head coaches later, and NIU was issued a free kick right outside the box and right on the end line…….. but no card of any kind was shown to Hurd. Apparently because there was absolutely no chance of it being a denial of a scoring opportunity — no one else was around her — the referees are allowed to just call it a boo boo on the keeper’s part and issue the free kick to the opponent. Who knew?
Here’s 46 seconds of highlights, which certainly tells you what kind of a match this was.
Up Next: Time off! Marquette won’t be back in action until September 10th. In fact, they’ll play just three matches between now and the start of Big East play on September 26th. That’s kind of helpful, as forward and leading scorer — from back when MU scored goals this season — Megan Murray will be taking leave from the team to join the Philippine national team for the 2026 Asian Cup, and she won’t be back until mid-October. Marquette’s next match is at Baylor with a 7pm Central time start on September 10th down in Waco. The Bears are 3-1 so far this season with a win over #10 Arkansas, but a loss to Texas State. They will host Pepperdine and visit LSU before Marquette arrives in the home of Magnolia and Dr. Pepper.
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