Marquette Women’s Soccer Picks Up Their Second Straight Shutout Against Louisville

Ryley Bugay and Eli Beard scored goals in relatively uncommon ways on Sunday as Marquette Golden Eagles women’s soccer got the 2-0 victory over Louisville Cardinals down in Kentucky. With the win, Marquette moves to 3-1-0 on the season and has not allowed a goal in over 200 minutes.

The first half of this game was a super drag. Six total shots, three from each side, and only one shot was actually qualified as a shot on goal. That game late in the half when MU’s Erin Johnston forced UL keeper Gabrielle Kouzelos to make a leaping poke to make sure the ball didn’t slip in over her head. The shot didn’t look particularly dangerous until it started dipping late in its flight, but in any case, that was the only SOG of the first 45 minutes.

The second half did not start off particularly exciting, but in the 51st minute, Marquette broke the ice and took a 1-0 lead. The referee called a handball in the 18 yard box on Louisville, thus granting the Golden Eagles a penalty kick. I’m telling you the ref called it, because I didn’t see it on the ACC Network Extra broadcast, the announcer didn’t see it happen, and they sure as heck did not show a replay of it, either. In any case, Ryley Bugay stepped calmly to the spot, got Kouzelos to guess wrong, and easily booted it in for her first goal of the season, and of her Marquette career.

Marquette’s second goal of the afternoon was a lot more exciting, but it kind of came out of nowhere, too. Kouzelos came running waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of her area in the 69th minute, well outside the 18 yard box towards midfield, but the Cardinals were unable to maintain possession of the ball while she was out of position. Eli Beard bolted forward and popped a long arcing ball towards the net. Her on-the-fly physics calculations were correct as the ball one-hopped its way into the net, nowhere close to Kouzelos being able to make a play on the ball.

Marquette and Louisville ended up tied in shots at seven apiece for the full 90 minutes. Maddy Henry made four stops, all in the second half, to defend the MU lead and wrap up the second straight shutout for the Golden Eagles. Marquette has not allowed a goal since the 68:05 mark of the Kentucky match, pushing the shutout streak just a shade past 200 minutes.

Marquette did have a flurry of apparent injuries in the game. Emily Hess was limited to just 28 minutes because of some sort of injury that wasn’t shown on the broadcast, Leah Celarek came up limping in between Marquette’s two goals, and something happened to Maddy Henry with less than a minute left to play. Again, not entirely sure what as the UL camera crew refused to show what was going on or a replay, but Henry went down and stayed down for a while without the ball in her possession.

Up Next: The Golden Eagles look to keep their three match winning streak alive next weekend when they host the Marquette Invitational. Friday’s match against Central Michigan will be a part of a triple-header in the Valley that includes Loyola-Chicago vs Mercer and the Marquette men’s team vs UIC. On Sunday, Loyola and Marquette flip opponents, with the Golden Eagles tangling with Mercer in a night time start. CMU is 2-1-1 on the season after a Sunday overtime win against Oakland, while Mercer is 1-1-0 after losing to Siena on Friday, but they still have a match against Kennesaw State on Sunday night.