Women's Soccer Dominates Spring Play

April 12, 2010

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's soccer team rolled to two spring season wins over Nebraska and UW-Milwaukee Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields. The Golden Eagles defeated Nebraska, 2-1, and dominated UWM, 4-0. The wins help the Golden Eagles move to 3-0-1 overall in spring action.

"Sunday was a very good spring date for our team," said head coach Markus Roeders. "We showed a high-level of play throughout both matches and it was nice for us to create many quality scoring chances. The team definitely played with urgency and showed it had fun competing. We were opportunistic around the goal and could've score more based on the opportunities we had."

"One of our goals this spring is to get better each weekend and we have accomplished that. Nebraska and Milwaukee are both good teams so they pushed our level of play up a notch."

"We experimented with various lineups but stayed consistent in our execution. Defensively, we eliminated most threats from within 30 yards. Our possession play was quite good and in the attacking end we showed sophistication and a hunger to score. We learned and improved, which is goal number one for the spring."

Marquette started off the day's action with the 2-1 victory over the Huskers. Both of MU's goals were scored in the first half.

Kristi Laurenzi got Marquette on the board first in 12th minute. Julia Victor collected a deflected corner kick from 35 yards out and served a cross in to Laurenzi who directed her shot low to the far post past Nebraska's keeper.

Rachael Sloan scored MU's second goal at the 24:01 mark. Sloan beat three NU defenders and drew the keeper out of the box before striking the ball in the back of the net.

Molly Thomas scored the Huskers' lone goal of the contest in the 49th minute.

The Golden Eagles owned a 17-7 shots advantage for the match and were awarded nine corner kicks over the 60-minute contest.

Marquette continued its relentless attack against the Panthers and scored two of its four goals in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Ashley Bares accounted for MU's first two goals at the 5:26 and 9:18 marks. Bares found herself in the right place at the right time as she followed up Rachel Brown's shot that hit the post for her first goal. Her second goal came in similar fashion as Bares one-timed her shot past the Panther's keeper.

Sam Vicker made it 3-0 in favor of the Golden Eagles one minute and six seconds into the second half, and Sloan scored the final Marquette goal and her second unassisted goal of the day on a breakaway with 18 minutes left to play.

"We had a outstanding contributions from our front players," added Roeders. "They scored and had the majority of our attacking chances. Ashley and Sloany [Rachael Sloan] both doubled up on their goal total, which is a positive. Kristi and Philly [Lisa Philbin] had assists and Lindsay was highly involved on other chances."

Overall, Marquette outshot the Panthers, 27-7, including a 13-4 advantage in the first half, and owned a 3-0 corner kicks differential.

Goalkeeper Natalie Kulla had a relatively easy day in net playing all 150 minutes of the two games making four saves. All 19 active players saw action in the two games.

"Natalie and the backline are coming together nicely this spring. We are building a new block of players and they have showed great maturity already. In tight matches, we will always have to rely on them to be solid without too many mistakes. One goal against in 150 minutes of play is a testament to their play," said Roeders.

The Golden Eagles return to action Saturday, April 17 to host DePaul at 10:30 a.m., and Wisconsin at 1:30 p.m. at Valley Fields.

Scoring Summary

Marquette 2, Nebraska 1
11:41 - MARQ - K. Laurenzi (Victor)
24:01 - MARQ - R. Sloan
48:51 - NU - M. Thomas

Marquette 4, UWM 0
5:26 - MARQ - A. Bares (R. Brown)
9:18 - MARQ - A. Bares (K. Laurenzi)
46:06 - MARQ - S. Vicker (L. Philbin)
72:00 - MARQ - R. Sloan