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Sometimes you have to get goals from unexpected places in order to win a soccer match.
That was the case on Sunday afternoon, as senior defender Katie Hishmeh and sophomore forward Shalese Miller both scored their first goals of the season as #21 Marquette (11-3-0, 4-0-0) beat Xavier 3-0.
Hishmeh scored what would turn out to be the game winning goal in the 27th minute. She sent a ball in from outside the 18 yard box and it ended up getting deflected off of a Xavier defender's head and into the net. I'm not entirely sure how that's not an own goal, honestly, but I'm fine with Hishmeh getting on the board for the year.
Junior Mary Luba tacked on some insurance in the 49th minute. Taylor Madigan fired in a shot that Xavier keeper Katie Markesbery was able to stop, but not collect, and Luba was able to clean up the mess for her team leading sixth goal of the season. That also moves Luba into a tie for fifth most in the league, although it would be fourth most if we weren't counting goals from St. John's Rachel Dally, who is clearly a time traveling goal scoring robot.
Miller added her first collegiate goal with just 12 seconds left before full time. Junior Isabella Carrasco fed the ball in from the right side and Miller turned and sent it home. It was the first collegiate assist for Carrasco, as she made her first appearance of the season.
Amanda Engel played the first 72 minutes before giving way to Sofie Schunk to finish off the shutout. Marquette outshot Xavier 20-2 in the match, and Engel made saves on both of the Musketeers' shots.
Up Next: Marquette has a week off before putting first place on the line at home next week Sunday against Georgetown (11-0-2, 3-0-1). Georgetown is only in second place due to their Big East opening draw with DePaul. The Hoyas were ranked #9 in both the Soccer America and NSCAA Top 25 last week and beat Butler and Providence over the weekend.