Sept. 10, 2009

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - A first-half goal from junior Stephanie Vasos, and two second-half strikes from senior Brittany Bares and sophomore Danielle Martens led the Marquette women's soccer team to a 3-0 shutout of Green Bay Thursday night at Valley Fields. With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 4-2 overall and send the Phoenix home with their third consecutive loss to stand 1-4 overall.

"We are happy with the win. It wasn't easy though. We had to really try to put our game on to them and break them down," said head coach Markus Roeders. "We were able to build on our attack in the second half. It was more precise and we had more precision with every chance we had. I'm glad we were able to score those extra goals because I do think we created the opportunities. It was a good result for us and I give our team a lot of credit."

The Golden Eagles' offense came out in full force out shooting the Phoenix 26-1, including 11 attempts on goal. Green Bay's goalkeeping duo of Maddie Drusch and Jennifer Sturchio denied Marquette eight times, knocking down five and three shots, respectively. MU keeper Natalie Kulla had a relatively easy night in net stopping GB's lone shot attempt in the first half.

Marquette pulled ahead, 1-0, during the 42nd minute when Vasos received a pass from sophomore Kerry McBride near the midfield line. Vasos then carried the ball down the sideline and eventually fired a shot from about 37 yards out. The ball soared right above Drusch's reach, giving Vasos her first goal of her career.

After firing off 10 shots over the first 26 minutes of the second half, the Golden Eagles added to their lead at the 76:43 mark when freshman Ashley Stemmeler found Bares near the top of the box. Stemmeler served the ball in from the right side right to Bares' foot where she one-timed it past Sturchio for her first goal of the season.

The Phoenix had a hard time with Marquette's pressure and couldn't keep the ball out their net for long, as only 26 seconds later Martens' diving header inside the box gave the Golden Eagles their third and final goal of the evening. Senior defender Allison McBride was credited with the assist.

"We try to keep building and we try make things better. We have to keep working on our chances and our opportunities. First and foremost we want to win games. If it takes one goal and we get a shut out, we will take that. The ladies did well tonight, but give credit to Green Bay. We really had to work hard at our game and how we were going to break them down. We created many chances and maybe next time we could score a few more," said Roeders.

The Golden Eagles will be back in action to take on No. 23 Minnesota at Valley Fields Sunday, Sept. 13, at 2:15 p.m. The match is the second game of a Marquette soccer doubleheader. The men's team will play UC Irvine at 12:05 p.m., prior to the women's match.

Match Notes:

• With Thursday's win over Green Bay, Marquette improves to 13-1 over the Phoenix and has won the last 13 straight meetings.
• Each goal scored and each assist registered were season firsts for Bares, Vasos, Martens, K. McBride, A. McBride and Stemmeler.