Marquette Women’s Soccer Rallies Against St. John’s

Wowzers!

After allowing two goals in the first half on Thursday night, Marquette women’s soccer banged home two of their own past the hour mark to create the opportunity for Macey Shock to win it for MU in double overtime. The golden goal from the sophomore gave the Golden Eagles the 3-2 win at Belson Stadium, which was Marquette’s first Big East win of the year. MU is now 4-8-1 overall and 1-2-1 in Big East action.

Zsani Kajan had to be #1 on the scouting report for Marquette for Thursday’s contest in Queens, and even with that in mind, Kajan proved why she was. The Hungarian junior tallied both of St. John’s goals in the first half, starting with this nice buildup strike in the sixth minute:

Kajan’s second goal of the match came in the 36th minute, as she ended up with the ball in deep and MU keeper Maddy Henry got caught in the middle trying to defend.

At that point, with a 2-0 lead, the Johnnies had just three shots in the entire game, all by Kajan. The half would end with Marquette holding a 5-4 advantage in shots, but it’s still hard to call that anything resembling control of the match.

The first 15 minutes of the second half elapsed with just two shots combined between the two teams. Kajan — surprise! — broke the ice on the second half in the 57th minute, and MU’s Katrina Wetherell tallied her team’s first shot in the 59th on a low strike that was saved by SJU’s Meredith Reinhardt.

Then, in the 61st minute, this laser beam from Alex Campana:

The lead was halved, but with less than 30 minutes to go, Marquette needed to get their offense in gear in a hurry. Goal #1: stop St. John’s from shooting, which they did. Over the next 12 minutes, though, MU’s only tries were from Wetherell, as she missed twice high.

Then, this effort from Kylie Sprecher to clean up:

An aside, if you will: Why was St. John’s keeper allowed to wear gold in this match? MU’s uniforms are half gold. Seems like not enough of a differentiation.

In any case, thanks to the alert and accurate feet of Sprecher, Marquette leveled the match in the 82nd minute. There would be just one more shot in regulation, as Kajan fired one on frame that went into the books as Henry’s only save of the match. With things still locked up at two each, that means extra time and golden goal rules.

Unsurprisingly, the first overtime ended without an official shot being recorded. There was also only one shot in the second overtime period, but that’s what happens when Macey Shock wins it for Marquette just 38 seconds after it starts:

A bit of luck that Emily Hess’ boot was able to slide all the way through to Shock, to be certain. However, you’ll not see much in way of a better first touch than Shock’s shot to the far post to beat Reinhardt and swipe the three points from the Johnnies.

Up Next: Marquette will be out in the NYC area for the remainder of the weekend, as they’ll be back in action in South Orange, New Jersey on Sunday afternoon. They’ll take on Seton Hall with the Pirates coming off a 5-1 home loss to Villanova on Thursday night. In true Seton Hall fashion, they’ll be handing out glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets for a match that starts at 1pm local time. Way to go, SHU.