Big East Championship First Round: #10/#7 Marquette 3, Cincinnati 0

Marquette got two first half goals and rode that lead to victory, as the #10/#7 Golden Eagles defeated Cincinnati 3-0 last night in the first round of the Big East Championship. With the victory, MU advances to the quarterfinals, where they find themselves in the same situation as the women's soccer team: Their next opponent will be the team that eliminated them from last year's Big East Championship. Last year, Louisville came to Valley Fields and took a 1-0 victory to end Marquette's season. This year, Marquette heads to Louisville to face the #14/#18 ranked Cardinals on Saturday night at 6pm Central.

Marquette got the scoring started in the 21st minute when Paul Dillon served the ball in from the right side to Axel Sjoberg's waiting head on the left post. The 6'7" redshirt freshman now has seven goals on the season and has the first goal in MU's last three matches.

The second goal came in the 42nd minute, when Sebastian Jansson and Kelmend Islami switched the sides from the first goal, with Jansson sending it in to Islami. Andy Huftalin closed the scoring in the 82nd minute and removed what little doubt as to the outcome that still remained.

Charlie Lyon had to make six saves in the second half to preserve his 10th clean sheet of the season. That moves the redshirt sophomore keeper into a tie for the most shutouts in a single season in program history.

The Big East Championship continues tonight as Villanova hosts Seton Hall in a first round match.

Up Next: The aforementioned quarterfinals match against Louisville.