Marquette Women's Soccer Unleashes Hell On Creighton In Big East Opener

It started out as a weird day in the Valley, but it ended with domination by the Golden Eagles.  Jacie Jermier powered MU on Sunday with a goal and three assists as Marquette defeated Creighton, 5-1, in the Big East opener for both teams.

Jermier displayed her talent for lofting a ball exactly to where she wants it all game long.  First, in the 38th minute, it was a free kick from the redshirt senior that flew across the Creighton defense and fell to Darian Powell to swat it in and knot the match at one goal a piece.  Her second assist of the afternoon came on a corner kick in the 59th minute, when she found the head of Morgan Proffitt to give MU a lead.  Jermier followed that up by capitalizing on a penalty kick created when Jamie Kutey got tripped inside the 18 yard box in the 78th minute.  Her final point of the game came on another goal by Proffitt, but this wasn't quite a corner kick.. The Golden Eagles already had a significant advantage in the 80th minute, so after being awarded a corner kick, they played it short.  Jermier must have seen Proffitt ready for another run at the net, so she lofted it in anyway and Proffitt headed it home again.

Marquette's fifth goal of the afternoon didn't involve Jermier, but it was still pretty sweet.  Kutey flipped a cross into the middle of the field, and Ashley Handwork finished it off for yet another header goal for the Golden Eagles.

As I mentioned, it started out as a weird day.  Sloane Carlson started in net for the Golden Eagles for the second straight match, even though Amanda Engel was only suspended for one game for her red card against LSU.  In addition, Riley Bugay, Eli Beard, and Jamie Kutey were all in the starting lineup unexpectedly.  After Carlson conceded the Jays' goal on a free kick from Ylenia Sachau in the 9th minute, head coach Markus Roeders subbed Engel in for Carlson, as well as Proffitt for Beard.  That still didn't answer all of the questions raised by the starting lineup, though, but halftime did.  At the half, Roeders came over to the grandstand and hollered while gesturing at the locker room.  He was motioning to three of his usual starters - Liz Bartels, Erin Holland, and Molly Pfeiffer - as well as rotation midfielder Meegan Johnston.  All four women were wearing sweatsuits and sitting in the grandstand for the match.  All four would return to the west end of the grandstand after halftime.

Marquette Wire's Dan Reiner confirmed what seemed to be the obvious conclusion: Bartels, Holland, Johnston, and Pfeiffer were all suspended for an undisclosed disciplinary reason. According to Roeders, all four should be back in the lineup for the next match, so it appears that the issue is resolved.  The logical conclusion is that Engel and Proffitt were also withheld from the starting lineup for a similar reason, but in regards to Carlson's insertion as the starter, Roeders only told Reiner the following: "Amanda is still our leader and our goalkeeper and I don't really think that's going to change in the future."

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

Up Next: Marquette hits the road for the first time in Big East play.  They'll be in South Orange, NJ, on Thursday night to take on Seton Hall (1-7-2, 0-1-0 Big East), and that'll be followed up with a game against St. John's (9-1-0, 1-0-0 Big East) on Sunday afternoon.