Golden Eagles Conclude Spring Season with a Pair of Wins

April 21, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. - The Marquette women's soccer team closed out its spring slate on a high note winning back-to-back games Saturday in Omaha, Neb. The Golden Eagles defeated South Dakota State, 4-1, and shut out Creighton, 1-0, as part of Creighton's "Kicks for a Cure" benefiting women's cancer research. Marquette had another day of plentiful scoring opportunities as all five goals were scored by five different Golden Eagles.

Against South Dakota State, the Golden Eagles were able to create many offensive opportunities much like they did Thursday against Loyola (Ill.) and Wis.-Green Bay. Junior Allison Mallams struck first for MU, but the Jackrabbits tied things up 1-1 as the two teams headed into halftime.

After SDSU turned to more of a defensive minded strategy in the second half, Marquette continued its aggressive offensive pursuit. It paid off with three second-half goals. Freshmen Cat Harris and Brittany Bares, and junior Britni Benage each found the back of the net for Marquette during the second frame.

"Our team built on the performances from Thursday evening," said head coach Markus Roeders. "Although it took us roughly 20 minutes to effectively start breaking down their defense, our attacking was solid. Allison's goal opened things up and we became more aggressive creating chances. South Dakota played a high defensive line and we were able to expose them more in the second half. Zwolski and Benage had one-on-one chances with the goalkeeper and Britni was able to finish her chance. Christy's cross for the fourth goal was superb. Overall it was a solid game as every player contributed."

After playing a full 90-minute game earlier in the day, Marquette came out ready and fired up to play host Creighton. Even with little rest, Roeders thought it the team's best performance of the spring. Redshirt freshman connected with junior Christy Zwolski to score the winning goal for the Golden Eagles. Compty fed Zwolski an end-line pass late in the game that Zwolski was able to one-time and put it past Creighton's keeper.

While Marquette kept creating chances, its defense played as one cohesive unit to limit Creighton's opportunities. On offense, Roeders was again pleased with the team's effort as Zwolski had a number of opportunities along with sophomore Mack Ayer, sophomore Kelli DeBarge, Benage and Mallams.

"Just an outstanding performance by our team," exclaimed Roeders. "Considering it was our fourth game in two days and the second 90-minute contest of the day, we played our best soccer of the spring. Our possession game was excellent plus we attacked and defended as a team. The chances we created could have easily lead to more goals as a Zwolski shot was saved on the line, Mack hit the crossbar and their (Creighton's) goalkeeper was outstanding. We found a great rhythm and never slowed down over the entire game. It was good to see that our team had the energy to play four games in three days and never drop off in their performance."

With the two wins in Omaha, the Golden Eagles conclude spring play 4-2-1 and are excited of what is to come for the 2007 season.

"Overall, we have seen tremendous improvements in our squad throughout the spring. The mini-season over the past four weeks has shown that this group of players is capable to compete at a high level. As long as our players stay committed throughout the summer and return healthy and in soccer shape, Marquette fans and our squad should be excited about the upcoming fall season."

Associate head coach Frank Palaez agreed, "If we come back in the fall and carryon what we did in the spring, this team will be very exciting to watch. It is too bad the spring season ended, because we were playing really well."

The Golden Eagles open the 2007 season at Wisconsin on Saturday, August 25, at 7 p.m.