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Marquette women’s soccer moved to 3-1-0 in Big East action on Thursday night with a 1-0 victory over Xavier. It’s the second straight shutout for the Golden Eagles, who now have not allowed a goal in over 219 minutes.
It’s also the fourth straight shutout against Xavier, and yes, if you’re counting, that’s a shutout in every meeting against the Musketeers since they joined the Big East. Xavier has scored one goal against Marquette, which came back in the first ever meeting between the two squads, a 2-1 Golden Eagles overtime victory in 2005.
Leah Celarek provided the firepower on the campus of Northern Kentucky, as the game had to be moved due to damage to Xavier’s facility due to recent flooding in the area. The sophomore from Schaumburg, Illinois, lofted a 25 yard floater at the Xavier net and it was juuuust high enough to avoid keeper Rachel Piccus, but juuuuuust low enough to catch the bottom of the crossbar and drop into the net for the game winning goal.
Marquette dominated possession in the game, outshooting the Musketeers 16-5, but the whole thing nearly fell apart in the final minute. Senior Morgan Proffitt was whistled for a handball (thankfully) just outside the 18 yard box and off to the right. Xavier got a decent ball into the middle but redshirt sophomore midfielder Ryley Bugay made the big game saving play to clear the ball out for the Golden Eagles.
Freshman keeper Maddy Henry made two saves, both in the second half, to preserve her second consecutive clean sheet. If she’s coming into her own as a keeper as Marquette gets waist deep into league play, then the Golden Eagles might be able to make some pretty serious noise.
Up Next: Speaking of making some noise, they’ve got a big opportunity in front of them on Sunday. They’ll be in Rhode Island to face Providence. The Friars moved to 3-0-1 in league play on Thursday with a win over Villanova, which keeps them in second place (10 points) behind DePaul (12 points) and ever so slightly in front of Marquette (9 points).