Oct. 25, 2009

Box Score

QUEENS, N.Y. -

Box Score (PDF)

2009 BIG EAST Tournament Bracket (PDF)

Senior Becky Ryan scored the only goal the No. 18 Marquette women's soccer team would need to defeat St. John's 1-0 and capture its first ever BIG EAST American Division Title. The win also gave head coach Markus Roeders his 200th career victory.

Marquette end regular-season play 13-4-2 overall, 7-2-2 BIG EAST, while the Red Storm finish second in the league standings with a 6-4-1 BIG EAST mark, 12-5-1 overall.

Ryan's game winner came at the 86:16 mark. Senior Michelle Compty served the ball into Ryan who hit the post on her first attempt. The ball came back to sophomore Rachael Sloan who headed it back to Ryan and Ryan knocked it in for the score.

For the game, Marquette out-shot St. John's 20-10, putting half its attempts on net. Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Kulla had a stellar performance in net and made a season-high seven saves for the game to earn her league-leading 13th shutout of the season. Kristin Russell came up with nine saves for the Red Storm.

It was an equal opportunity first half with Marquette holding a slight advantage in the shots column, 9-7. Marquette had four quality chances in the first, with shots coming from Compty, Becky Ryan, Rosie Malone-Povolny and Rachael Sloan.

Marquette pressured immediately at the start of the second half firing five shots in the first seven minutes of the frame. Brittany Bares, Malone-Povolny, Ryan and Sloan each had chances that they were unable to convert in the first five minutes of the second half.

One of the Golden Eagles' best chances of the game came when St. John's was called for a foul in the 52nd minute. Thut served in the ball to Rachel Brown who controlled it and put it on goal where Russell had to dive across the goalmouth for the save. 

The Golden Eagles have secured a No. 1 American Division seed in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament that begins Thursday, Oct. 29, and will host the winner of Connecticut/Villanova in the quarterfinals at Valley Fields on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 1 p.m.  

Game Notes

• With 200 career wins, head coach Markus Roeders is one of three active coaches at Marquette to reach the 200-win mark and one of 36 active NCAA Division I head coaches to accumulate 200 or more wins. Roeders is 200-79-30 all-time at Marquette.

• Senior Becky Ryan's goal was her fourth of the season, third game winner of the season.

• With the win today, Marquette pushed its unbeaten streak to a season-best seven games.

• The shutout at St. John's marked the team's 13th of the season and set a new team record for shutouts in a season.