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Heading into Sunday afternoon's Big East Championship game, Marquette was virtually guaranteed a spot in this year's NCAA College Cup based on the strength of their RPI. Meanwhile, DePaul was at best a bubble team who needed their luck to hold a bit longer after beating Villanova and Georgetown on the strength of their defense to eke out 1-0 victories in the first two rounds.
The Golden Eagles took lots of early shots, but the teams went into halftime in a scoreless tie. The Marquette offense resumed pelting balls Alejandria Godinez who struggled to come up with clean saves all afternoon. After splitting two defenders, Taylor Madigan's shot from the penalty spot hit the right post past a diving Godinez to give Marquette a 1-0 lead.
A Mary Luba header into the left corner a few minutes later did not count as Maegan Kelly's pass came after the ball got past the goal line. The insurance goal, Ann Marie Lynch's career first marker, came in the 68th: a Liz Bartels shot was deflected off a DePaul defender. Lynch, who had subbed in less than a minute before, got enough on the ball to send it into the right post where it dribbled in slowly as the Blue Demons were completely caught off guard.
Amanda Engel, Emily Jacobson, Kelly, and Luba were named to the All Tournament team while Jacobson and Luba earned Outstanding Defensive Player and Outstanding Offensive Player honors respectively.
Highlights, including video of both goals, are below.
Up Next: The NCAA College selection show is tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Central time on NCAA.com. Marquette's spot in the 64 team field is already locked up now, so they just wait to find out who their first round opponent will be.