Women’s Soccer Wraps Up 2024 On A High Note

The Golden Eagles jumped on Seton Hall early in the season finale.

I said it in the preview: Even though Marquette women’s soccer was eliminated from postseason contention going into the final match of the 2024 Big East schedule, that didn’t mean they couldn’t go out on a high note.

If Chris Allen made that same point to his team, I would not be surprised.

Was it a dominant win over Seton Hall to end the season? Well, you can argue about the tactics and minute by minute play of the match if you want as far as that goes, but it’s hard to argue with the friggin’ scoreboard in terms of dominant victories. Marquette 3, Seton Hall 0.

Perhaps most interestingly, the goals came from slightly surprising places. Haley Christianson gets the game winner on what is her first career goal. A shot from Kiley McMinn is just in enough of an awkward place that SHU keeper Avery Strohecker can only bat at it as she moves…. but that pops it up in the air and ultimately right at the feet of Christianson in the ninth minute.

Marquette’s second goal came in the 40th minute, and it was Aislinn Boyle scoring her first of the season and her first goal since the 2022 campaign. From a technical definition of what happened, the goal was effectively the same thing that happened on Christianson’s marker, with the difference being that Julia O’Neill’s cross was deflected back into the field of play by a SHU field defender and not the keeper.

That margin stood up at the break, even though Seton Hall was outshooting Marquette 10-8. Then again, all 10 shots came after Marquette was already up 1-0 and MU did score on their fourth shot of the match.

The second half started with Seton Hall getting the best chances, as Marquette didn’t even get a shot off until the 59th minute. Again: Up 2-0, it’s fine. Eventually the Golden Eagles did turn the tide in that regard, and ultimately outshot SHU 11-6 in the second half. That offensive push paid off in the 70th minute when Carina Murphy scored her second goal of the season.

Sometimes it’s not a complicated sport.

On the other end of the field, Elise Krone and Chloe Olson split time right down the middle with Olson coming on at halftime. They teamed up for eight total saves, with Krone doing a little bit more with five in the first half.

How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?

Marquette finishes the 2024 season with a record of 6-11-3 overall and 3-6-1 in Big East action. Yeah, it’s not the best season in program history, but it is one more win than Marquette had in 2023, both overall and in Big East matches. Can’t ask for “better than last year” when you had a coaching change, right?