Marquette Women's Soccer Season Comes To An End

Earlier this season, Marquette beat Butler in the Butler Bowl by a score of 1-0 when Darian Powell put her head on a series of fortuitous volleys after a corner kick.

On Tuesday night, Butler beat Marquette in the Butler Bowl by a score of 1-0 when Shannon McDevitt put her foot on a series of fortuitous bounces after a corner kick.

Stupid mirror images.

The difference between Marquette's win and Butler's win is that the Bulldogs got the victory in the Big East tournament quarterfinals, earning them a spot in the semifinals on Friday against top seeded St. John's.  As a result of the loss, Marquette's season is over.  The Golden Eagles sit at 8-8-4 on the season, and as of this past Monday, their RPI of 72 will not be anywhere near enough to get them into the 64 team NCAA tournament when the field is announced next week.

McDevitt's goal came in the 67th minute.  It came off of a corner kick by Serina Kashimoto that Butler earned when a shot from Sophia Maccagnone went juuuuust high enough for Marquette keeper Amanda Engel to leap and poke it up and over the crossbar.  On the corner, Marquette made the initial defense, but Butler's Randi DeLong sent it back in.  It ended up bouncing towards the Marquette net, where Erin Holland tried to put a boot on it.  She didn't quite get it, and it volleyed on towards Engel.  Engel's hands and McDevitt's foot got to the ball at the same time, resulting in Engel going one way and McDevitt and the ball going the other.  McDevitt was the one on her feet and she poked it home for the game winner.

Marquette's two best looks at the net came with seconds left on the clock in both halves.  Darian Powell missed the net just barely to the left as the first half expired, and if it was one, maybe two feet to the right, it would have found beaten Butler keeper Madison Card.  It was Powell again for MU's very final shot at the net as regulation expired.  After a Jacie Jermier shot was blocked with 12 seconds left, Powell was able to collect the ball and blast a shot on frame with five seconds remaining.  Card made the save on that shot, easily catching it to preserve her clean sheet.

Highlights, including McDevitt's goal and Powell's shot at the end of the first half, courtesy of the Big East Digital Network:

With the season over, there's only one thing left to do.  THANK YOU to Marquette's three seniors: Amanda Engel, Jacie Jermier, and Ann Marie Lynch.  Those three women have been an invaluable part of the Marquette women's soccer program for the last four years (five in the case of redshirt senior Jermier),  including some of the biggest wins in Marquette women's soccer history.  The last two years may not have matched up to the standards of their first years in Milwaukee, but we still celebrate them for the time, energy, and effort that they've devoted to Marquette.