Barring one tiny miscue in the second half, the home opener for Marquette women’s soccer went about as you would expect on Wednesday afternoon. The Golden Eagles outshot Division 2 Truman State 9-0 in the first 45 minutes and ran up a 3-0 lead on the Bulldogs, then moved that margin to 4-0 less than 10 minutes into the second half.
That margin unfortunately did not hold til the final whistle, as MU freshman Gabi Retana got whistled for a handball in the 81st minute, and backup keeper Hailey Wade couldn’t
corral the ensuing penalty kick from TSU’s Meghan Knust. Thus, your final from Valley Fields is 4-1 in favor of Marquette, but sadly, the Golden Eagles’ shutout streak to start the season is over. I feel bad for Retana on that, it didn’t look like she was really trying to play the ball, it was more her hand went in a direction as her body moved and the ball popped up in an odd direction and hit her hand. It’s 100% the right call, but it’s really hard to say that she was doing anything wrong on purpose.
ANYWAY, the goals. For the third straight match, Marquette has put a goal on the board before the clock hit 11:00 elapsed. This time it was Jocelyn Leigh getting her first of the season, and she cashed in the exact turn and fire move that bounced off the post late against North Dakota State.
Goal #2 came less than six minutes later. Marquette was pestering the Truman State defense as they tried to clear a ball out. Keeper Siman Loethen rifled a clearance attempt into Leigh’s leg, that bounced the ball out towards the middle, where Olivia Hernandez collected it and calmly fired away.
The third goal is straight out of the basketball playbook, as Haley Christianson followed up a Callie Hefner shot, and because she saw it was loose and out of Loethen’s grip, Christianson poked it in for a 3-0 lead in the 25th minute.
More heads up play led to Marquette’s fourth goal in the 55th minute. The Golden Eagles had earned a free kick, and unfortunately, Carly Christopher’s first attempt went straight into the Truman State wall. It also bounced right back to Christopher, so she got a free second try on her free kick. That one was perfectly placed, soaring just high enough to be unimpeded, but not high enough to miss the net.
Shots were even at 5-5 in the second half, but part of that is merely that Marquette was up 4-0 with 35 minutes left to go. TSU’s first two shots of the match ended up blocked by MU defenders before they even got to Wade.
Oh, that reminds me. Marquette’s shutout streak is over, but Mia Hurd’s remains alive. She started and played the first 45 minutes, so she’s still on zero goals allowed for the first 225 minutes of her collegiate career.
Up Next: Business picks up in a big way. Marquette’s next match will be on Sunday at 5pm Central, and they’ll be taking on a freshly unranked Wisconsin Badgers squad. UW-Madison was #22 to start the season in the United Soccer Coaches poll, but a 1-0 loss on an own goal to #6 TCU is their only result of the season as of this writing, and so now they’re merely Receiving Votes. That might get worse between now and Sunday, as Wisconsin is hosting #9 BYU starting 90 minutes after I’m typing this on Wednesday night. I’d say at least it’s a home game, but so was the TCU match.
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