Oct. 8, 2006

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MILWAUKEE - In front of Marquette soccer families and alumni who were recognized prior to kickoff and during halftime, the Marquette women's soccer team took a tough 2-0 loss to no. 7 West Virginia on a very windy Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields. The Mountaineers earned their third consecutive shut out and improve to 11-1-2 and 5-1-1 BIG EAST to stay atop the American Division, while the Golden Eagles drop to 5-5-4 overall and 3-3-1 in BIG EAST play. Also with the loss and a Connecticut win over Syracuse Sunday, Marquette falls to third place in the standings with 10 points.

"We can't feel good about this," said head coach Markus Roeders. "When you play against as good of a team as West Virginia is you have to go out and play at the very highest level. There aren't very many teams in the country that have as much pure talent and that is when you have to come out and give it all you've got for 90 minutes. We didn't do that today."

The Mountaineers got their first look in the second minute of the game when they were awarded a corner kick. Kim Bonilla served to the middle where Carolyn Blank got a shot off in a cluster but junior goalkeeper Boyer was able to punch it out.

A few minutes later Marquette got its first opportunity when sophomore defender Katie Kelly launched a ball that hit the post. Mallams was right there to get the rebound, but it was blocked by a West Virginia defender.

West Virginia's constant penetration paid off and registered the first goal of the game as Marquette missed a tackle in the 28th minute on its side of the field and Mountaineer forward, Kiley Harris, was able to maintain possession. She dribbled through Marquette's defense and fired a shot past Boyer high to the right corner giving the Mountaineers the 1-0 advantage.

Marquette made some substitutions but didn't have any significant opportunities for the rest of the first half. West Virginia out shot the Golden Eagles 6-4 in the first and were awarded five corner kicks to MU's two. For the first stanza Boyer made three stops in net.

The Golden Eagles came out fired up in the second and Mallams used her speed to get an early shot off just over two minutes into the half that went wide.

After a foul called on Marquette, West Virginia tried to make it 2-0 when Bonilla launched a free kick and Carolyn Blank got her head on that went wide. A few minutes later, in the 59th minute Boyer got her first save of the second half as Bonilla fired another one off about 15 yards out that Boyer was able to smother.

Marquette's best chance to get on the board came when senior Allison Loughrin blasted one from about 22 yards out that went wide. After Loughrin's shot, the Golden Eagles picked up the intensity and continued to press. Mallams gave Loughrin a nice feed that was broken up by the West Virginia backline a few moments later.

The Mountaineers took a 2-0 lead and secured the win when Boyer was called for a foul in the 83rd minute on Bonilla after she tried to stop Bonilla's breakaway away attempt. In turn, Bonilla was awarded a penalty kick. Deana Everrett took the kick for West Virginia and nailed it past Boyer.

Even after the penalty kick, Marquette still created chances and didn't back down. In a span of only a minute, redshirt freshman Michelle Compty, senior Meghan Connelly and Loughrin all got shots off. Mallams got other opportunity in the closing seconds of the game when Kelly served in a corner kick, Boyer came out of the goal got a foot on it and Mallams flicked it on target but Mountaineer keeper Lana Bannerman was able to come up with save.

"I thought we played good in spurts in the first half, and better in the second half," said Roeders. "We had opportunities, we should be able to score but we need consistency. When we have it, we look good, when we don't, it is hit or miss. We have more games to play and we are going to turn it around to gain something. Our next opponent is Friday."

For the game WVU out shot Marquette 13-11, but the two teams were even in the second stanza on shots, each with seven. In 90 minutes of action, Boyer made five stops and Bannerman collected her seventh shutout of the season also with five saves on the day.

The Golden Eagles will return to action on Friday, Oct. 13, when they host Cincinnati at Valley Fields at 7 p.m.