Women’s Soccer Ends Up With A Draw

and things were going so well for a while there

It honestly seemed like Marquette women’s soccer was just going to keep pouring it on DePaul until the match was over.

After a back and forth first 20 minutes, Marquette had grabbed control of the match in the back end of the first half. The Golden Eagles outshot the Blue Demons 5-1 in the final 20 minutes, and DePaul’s only shot in there was actually with 31 seconds left and it missed everything to the left.

When the second half started, Marquette racked up three corner kicks in the first eight minutes and that pressure turned into the first shot of the half. 6-1 in shots, and then MU’s seventh ended up being the last part of this outstanding solo effort by Tess O’Connell for her team high fifth goal of the season.

Marquette fired off three more shots — two by O’Connell — as the match passed the hour mark, and then went past the 70 minute mark as well. That’s a 12-4 shots advantage for the Golden Eagles to that point of the match. Outstanding work to keep after DePaul and keep going even after putting up a goal…..

And then this happened.

Nothing complicated, just Briley Hill bursting forward past Marquette’s last defenders and snapping a ground ball where Elise Krone couldn’t do anything about it. That was in the 74th minute, and it was DePaul’s second shot of the half.

To a certain extent, Marquette is lucky to escape Wish Field with their 1-1 draw. DePaul outshot Marquette 6-1 in the final 20 minutes, and 4-1 in the final 11. Krone had to make a save in the final 30 seconds, but hey: Marquette’s final shot of the match was in the 89th minute, and DePaul’s Elena Milam had to wrap up Alexa Maletis’ shot to keep the thing level as well.

Ultimately, this one has to be viewed as something of a disappointing result for Marquette. DePaul is one of two remaining winless teams in Big East play after this result, and getting three points out of this match would have been a big help for the Golden Eagles as we get to the midpoint of conference play. Six points would have meant a tie for the sixth and final Big East tournament berth at this point of the schedule, instead MU settles for sitting two points back.

And it’s not just me saying that’s the case. I typed all that out before I checked to see if there was a quote from head coach Chris Allen in the official team recap aaaaaaaand:

“While I recognize BIG EAST points, especially those on the road are hard to come by, we still are disappointed to be leaving Chicago with only one point,” head coach Chris Allen said. ”From a positive standpoint, we are now creating attacking chances with a consistency we were not earlier in the season, but now we need greater execution of those chances. as well as set pieces.

“On the defensive side of the ball, we just concede goals way too easily,” Allen added. ”Both games this weekend saw us score first and then quickly cough up the lead. So, I do believe we are getting better as a team, but we left two points on the table today and now we’re going to have to go get those points somewhere else down the road.”

Up Next: Just one match over the next week for Marquette, and they get a full week off before it. Next Sunday, the Golden Eagles will be back at home against UConn for a 1pm Central time kick off. The Huskies are 7-3-3 overall and 1-2-2 in Big East action after a 2-1 loss at Creighton on Sunday.