Bartels Scores As Marquette Women's Soccer Shuts Out Providence

All Marquette women's soccer needed to beat Providence on Sunday afternoon was four saves from Amanda Engel and two fortuitous deflections.

The saves are what the saves are, but the bounces cut Marquette a little bit of a break.  In the 55th minute, Darian Powell slid around three PC defenders and sent a shot on target that was paddled away by Providence keeper Kristyn Shea.  However, Shea's redirection sent the ball skittering towards the other side of the net where Liz Bartels was waiting.  The junior from Omaha went top shelf with her shot, where Shea was waiting to save that attempt, too.  Shea got her hands on it, but not enough to grab it.  Bartels' shot deflected off Shea's hands and into the top corner of the net, giving Marquette a 1-0 lead.

That would be all the offense that the Golden Eagles needed for the win, with Engel snagging two saves after that, both with just under 20 minutes to play, in order to earn her second consecutive clean sheet and third of the season.  With the two straight shutouts, it's now been over 190 minutes since Engel allowed a goal.

Marquette moves to 3-2-0 in league play this season, shifting to a tie for fourth place with Butler as we move past the midpoint of the Big East schedule.  Providence falls to 2-3-0, and is currently losing a tiebreaker with Creighton for the sixth and final Big East tournament slot.

How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and the Big East Digital Network?

Up Next: The Golden Eagles get a week off to prepare for their next match.  They'll be in Washington, D.C., to face Georgetown in a match that could decide who hosts a quarterfinal Big East tournament game.  The Hoyas suffered their first loss in Big East play on Sunday when they dropped a 1-0 result to Butler, and they'll host Xavier on Wednesday in between now and then.