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When: Sunday, November 10, 2013, at 1pm Central
Where: Valley Fields
Audio/Visual: The match will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1. Live stats will be here.
Previous Meeting: Marquette defeated DePaul 1-0 on October 20, 2013. Goals: Luba, 44'
How They Got Here
#1 Marquette
The Golden Eagles are the top seed in the tournament, courtesy of their 9-0-0 record in league play. It was defense and a multifaceted offense that drove Marquette to their perfect Big East record. They allowed just three goals to conference opponents, while 10 different Golden Eagles found the back of the net.
As the top seed in the tournament, Marquette received a bye in the quarterfinals. They matched up with #4 seed St. John's in the semifinals and came away with a 2-0 win on Friday night.
#3 DePaul
The Blue Demons ended up with a Big East record of 5-3-1 and the three seed in the tournament, although that wasn't decided for sure until the last day of the regular season. The key to their success this season has been 2013 Big East Goalkeeper of the Year Alejandria Godinez. She leads the Big East in both goals-against average (0.61) and save percentage (.905).
DePaul has already played two games to get to this point. They hosted #6 seed Villanova in the quarterfinals and won 1-0 on this goal from Elise Wyatt. 10 AE points to anyone who can explain what they think Villanova keeper Jami Kranich was trying to do there. In the semifinals, DePaul got a 68th minute goal from Erin Pekovitch and seven saves from Godinez to upset #2 seed Georgetown and send the Blue Demons to their first ever Big East title match.
What To Watch For
Marquette's Katie Hishmeh vs. DePaul's Elise Wyatt
Late in the regular season match between Marquette and DePaul, Hishmeh and Wyatt got tangled up deep in Marquette's own end. It didn't really seem to be either player's fault, but apparently some bad blood ensued. In the 81st minute, Hishmeh was jogging past Wyatt as DePaul prepared to restart the match after Marquette was whistled for offsides. I was looking right at it when it happened, and I didn't see Hishmeh do anything but jog past Wyatt, but Wyatt still went down in a heap. Play continued for a short while, but eventually, the referee saw Wyatt on the ground and well after the fact issued Hishmeh a yellow card.
With Wyatt leading the DePaul attack (a team high seven goals), and Hishmeh expected to play her usual 90 minutes on Marquette's back line, it's likely that these two are going to bump into each other at least once or twice during the match. Will fireworks be on display again, or will the seriousness of the moment keep things under control?