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On Sunday, Marquette suffered their second loss of the Big East schedule, going down 2-0 to #7 Georgetown. It snapped a four match winning streak and a three match shutout streak.
That’s fine.
With three matches to play, Marquette has a three point lead on Creighton (the other team that beat them) for the #4 spot in the Big East tournament. That would entitle the Golden Eagles to host a quarterfinal match if they hold on to that spot. The really good news is that there are just three points separating fourth place MU from first place DePaul.
Even better news: Marquette wraps up the regular season by playing DePaul. It’s entirely possible that when the Blue Demons set foot in the Valley on October 28th, the match could be contested with the regular season title on the line.
But that’s down the road a bit. For now, Marquette has to focus on what’s in front of them, and that’s restarting a winning streak. Conveniently, the next team in front of them is in last place in the Big East right now, so things are looking up in that regard.
Big East Match #7: at Villanova (3-12-0, 1-5-0 Big East)
When: Thursday, October 20, 2016, at 3pm CT
Where: Higgins Soccer Complex in Villanova, PA
Audio/Visual: The Big East Digital Network on Fox Sports Go has the video stream & there’s live stats.
Twitter Updates: @MUWomensSoccer & @novawsoccer
Marquette is 7-0-0 all time against Villanova, and the Wildcats have never scored a goal against MU dating back to their first ever match in 2006.
Based on that all-time series tidbit, I think it’s safe to say that what’s going on with VU this season is not an anomaly. They’re currently on a four match losing streak where they’ve scored just one goal. Oddly, that was against that highly ranked Georgetown team, but, hey: it made the score 4-1 in the 76th minute, so it’s not like that was competitive, either. Their win over Creighton (WHAT THE HELL, BLUEJAYS) is the bright point in a 1-6-0 streak.
As you might have guessed because you’re a smart, attractive person, Villanova is last in the league in goals per game. They’re actually tied for last (with Seton Hall) for total goals, but one extra match nudges VU down to just 0.80 goals per game. They’re also the worst defense in the Big East, allowing 2.47 goals on average. They’re the only team in the Big East allowing more than two goals per game, or hell, the only team allowing more than 1.7 per outing.
As completely lackluster as VU’s offense is, Ida DiClemente does lead the team in shots and she does rank 9th in the league in shot per game at 2.33. The freshman forward does not leave the team in points or goals, though. That honor is reserved for fellow freshman Kristin Barbour, who has six goals and two assists through this point of the season.
Villanova’s goalkeeping minutes have been split mostly down the middle this season between Emily Harris and Emmalee Meyer. Harris played all 90 minutes of their most recent match, so even though they’re only 29 minutes apart on the season, I’m guessing that we’ll see Harris (2.44 GAA; 57.8% save percentage) on Thursday afternoon on the Main Line.