Marquette University Athletics
Women's Soccer Wraps Up C-USA Season with Win
10/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 26, 2003
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MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's soccer team concluded its Conference USA regular season action with a 2-1 victory over Saint Louis at Valley Fields. With the win, Marquette (10-7-1, 7-3 C-USA) hits the 10-win mark for the eighth consecutive season. The Golden Eagles take over first place for the time being in Conference USA with the win over the Billikens (11-4-2, 5-3-1).
The Golden Eagles rebounded quickly from a 1-0 deficit. Saint Louis found the board in the 34th minute. Dee Guempel scored for the Bills on a feed from Courtney Hulcer. Guempel's shot from eight yards out left MU keeper Katie Bissen without a chance to make the save. Bissen had five saves on the match and the team collected a sixth in the early going. Jamie Perry put a shot on net in the 12th minute that Bissen stretch to her right and deflected. That ball came out to Guempel who put it back on the opposite side of the net, but sophomore defender Courtney Sinsky headed the ball away just as it approached the goal mouth, keeping SLU from going up even earlier.
"Our matches with Saint Louis have always been close," head coach Markus Roeders said. "They came out strong. It took us 20 minutes to settle down. Once we started to possess better and had more touches, we got better as a team."
It took Marquette just one minute and 41 seconds to even the match. Senior midfielder Kristen Jensen scored from 13 yards out to tie the match. Jensen collected a backwards cross from freshman Ashley George who was deep in the corner. Jensen settled the cross and had plenty of time to direct her shot on goal as three SLU defenders rushed her way. SLU keeper Amanda Martin, who made seven saves on the day, got a hand on this shot, deflecting it wide, but not far enough as it landed just inside the far post.
MU scored the go-ahead goal just six minutes later. Freshman forward Meghan Connelly was the beneficiary of a good set up. Senior defender Lindsay Smale collected a clear at the half line and played it up the middle to a charging Kristie Matola. Matola then dribbled to her right and slid the ball back to McGill on the left side who scored from 14 yards out.
"It helped getting back into it so quickly," Roeders added. "It didn't seem like we were playing from behind. It felt good to be winning going into halftime."
Marquette limited Saint Louis on its opportunities in the second half. The Golden Eagle defense allowed just four shots to the Bills in the second half, the first coming in the 76th minute.
"Besides the first 25 minutes, I thought we played very well defensivley," Roeders said. "We talked at halftime about not allowing them opportunities and I think we accomplished that."
The Golden Eagles conclude the regular season on Friday, October 31 at 7 p.m. at Valley Fields against Northwestern.
