Marquette Women’s Soccer Shuts Out Providence For Fourth Straight Win

Thanks to a game winner from Liz Bartels and the first career goal for Madison Dunker, Marquette picked up their fourth straight win in a 2-0 shutout of Providence on Sunday afternoon. It’s also the third straight shutout in 2016 for the Golden Eagles and seventh consecutive shutout of the Friars.

The win moves Marquette to 12 points in the Big East table with a record of 4-1-0. They’re alone in second place at the midway point of the conference schedule, trailing only DePaul, who moved to 15 points on Sunday thanks to a 3-0 victory over Villanova.

Marquette had to deal with a variety of shots from the Friars in the first half, ending the first 45 minutes with a 6-2 deficit on shots. However, it was the deft footwork of Bartels that put MU in front for good in the 11th minute.

The shots came fast and furious towards the end of the first half for Providence as freshman keeper Maddy Henry had to make three saves in rapid succession to preserve her clean sheet, including this one in the 40th minute:

The second half tilted in favor of Marquette as they flipped the shot total from the first half around on Providence. The Golden Eagles totaled six shots after the break, including Dunker’s goal in the 79th minute that sure doesn’t look like it was really intended as a shot when she let fly on the free kick.

Officially, the completely (and to Providence’s mindset, horrifyingly) unmarked Morgan Proffitt did not touch the ball, so she does not get credit for the goal, nor does she get an assist. She deserves an assist, though, because it was her run and extended leg that froze PC’s Kristyn Shea and allowed Dunker’s free kick to bounce untouched past Shea and into the net. Watch the highlight clip again and just stare at the lack of anything from Shea in order to play that ball.

Henry finished the day with three saves, all in the first half, to wrap up her third career shutout and extend her shutout streak to 309:50. Henry’s 90 minutes of goal-free soccer also extended Marquette’s shutout streak against Providence to 693:42. The Friars haven’t scored a goal against Marquette since 2010.

Up Next: The four match winning streak has Marquette on the verge of first place through five matches, but their biggest tests are still in front of them. The first major trial comes up next Sunday when MU hosts current #6 Georgetown at Valley Fields. The Hoyas are sitting on an 11 match unbeaten streak, but they’re only 2-0-2 in Big East action so far. They’ll play a mid-week match against Villanova before heading off to Milwaukee.