Golden Eagles to Meet Louisville in the BIG EAST Quarterfinals
11/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 2, 2007
MILWAUKEE - The No. 3 seed Marquette women's soccer team will begin postseason play Sunday as it heads back to Louisville, Ky., to play the No. 2 seed Cardinals in a BIG EAST Quarterfinal match. Kick-off is set for Noon CT. Live stats will be available.
The winner of this match will meet the winner of the No. 1 seed West Virginia versus No. 4 Villanova match in the BIG EAST Semifinals on Friday, Nov. 9, in Morgantown, W.Va.
"Playing in the Big East tournament is outstanding preparation for NCAA tournament play. It doesn't get much tougher than this," said head coach Markus Roeders. "The two teams that play for the BIG EAST Tournament title should be in the mix to play for a national championship."
As member of the BIG EAST Conference, Marquette is 2-0 all-time in the BIG EAST Quarterfinals, but it is the first time the Golden Eagles have to travel to play a quarterfinal match. The Golden Eagles and Louisville have met before in the quarterfinals in 2005 with MU defeating the Cardinals, 2-1, at Valley Fields. Last season Marquette shutout Villanova, 1-0, also at Valley Fields. Marquette is 2-2 in the BIG EAST tournament and 19-10-1 all-time in conference tournament play.
"Having advanced to the BIG EAST Quarterfinals and beyond the last couple of years, we have enough experience to know what it takes to succeed at this point. Right now, all of our focus is on Louisville. We are expecting a great match. The teams know each other well and it should be a great match," said Roeders.
The Golden Eagles (12-3-4, 5-3-3 BIG EAST) enter the game 3-3-3 in its last nine matches after opening the season with a 10-game unbeaten streak. Mallams has had a hot foot since returning to the pitch from injury as she has scored five of the Golden Eagles' last six goals. Her five goals rank fourth in conference play.
"We are looking forward to the game. Our team has had a full week to prepare and should be 100% ready to go," Roeders said.
Louisville (12-4-2, 7-3-1 BIG EAST) who finished the regular season second in the BIG EAST National Division has played five of its last seven matches to overtime. Shannon Smyth leads the Cardinals with 15 points on six goals and three assists. In net, goalkeeper Joanna Haig has 11 shutouts on the season and a league-leading goals against average of 0.44.
"Louisville is a dangerous squad and they don't give up many goals. They have quality players throughout their line-up and we are expecting a battle. At the end, the game will be decided on who executes at the highest level on the day and who makes the fewest mistakes. That will be the team that moves on to the BIG EAST Semifinals," Roeders said.
The Golden Eagles own the series advantage 11-4-1 over the Cardinals. Marquette is 4-3-1 all-time in Louisville.
In the two teams' last meeting, Marquette was ahead 2-0 on the Cardinals thanks to goals from Mallams. Louisville's Monique Gjini scored on a penalty kick and Kelsey Hunyadi tied the match with 11 second remaining in regulation to go to overtime. Neither team was able to convert in the two overtime periods leaving the match to be decided in the form of a 2-2 draw.
"We created enough to score two goals last time but we let it slip away at the end. Since we played there only a few weeks ago, we should feel comfortable returning for this match," said Roeders.