WSOC Rally At Minnesota Falls Short In 4-3 Setback

The Marquette University women's soccer team (3-2-0, 0-0-0 BIG EAST) opened a three-match road swing with a tough 4-3 loss at Minnesota (3-1-0, 0-0-0 Big Ten) on Thursday afternoon in non-conference action.

"Extremely proud of the grit & resiliency that our young team showed after trailing three times and fighting its way back each time," head coach Chris Allen said. "Minnesota had one more moment than we did and that turned out to be the difference.

"When you're playing on the road against a team that was in the Sweet 16 last season, you simply can't give them that many opportunities and expect to not get punished." Allen added. "Excited to get to practice tomorrow and get prepared for Sunday at St. Thomas."

After falling behind in the ninth minute, the Golden Eagles quickly responded to tie the score at 1-1 at the 9:37 mark on freshman Clare Shea's first-career goal. The Gophers were unable to clear Molly Keiper's corner and Shea was there to clean it up and place the ball into the back of the net.

Trailing 2-1 midway through the first half, Keiper found the back of the net from eight yards out at the far post after great work by Hailey Christianson and Josie Bieda created the scoring opportunity with some combo passing down the right side.

With minimal scoring opportunities for both teams for a majority of the second half, Marquette once again leveled the score on Jocelyn Leigh's second goal in as many matches, when she tapped home a loose ball in the box at the 79:29 mark.

Unfortunately for MU, the Gophers were able to net the game winner with less than four minutes remaining in the match after a corner kick was unable to be cleared out of harm's way.

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles remain on their two-match, five-day road swing to face St. Thomas at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday, Aug. 31.

NOTES

Senior Cate Downs, who entering Thursday had appeared in 19 matches as a reserve dating back to the 2022 campaign, made her first-career start at Minnesota
Shea is the seventh-different player to score for Marquette in 2025
Keiper, who entered the season with two-career points on a pair of assists, finished with a goal and an assist on Thursday and now leads the team with five points

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