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Marquette Looks for First BIG EAST Tournament Championship
Nov. 5, 2008
MILWAUKEE -
For the third time in four years, Marquette (11-6-3) will play in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament on Friday, Nov. 7. The Golden Eagles will take on top-ranked and No. 1 National Division seed Notre Dame (19-0-0) at Alumni Field in Notre Dame, Ind., at 5 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports with Ann Schatz and Tammy Blackburn calling all of the action from the pitch. The winner of first semifinal match between Marquette and Notre Dame will take on the winner of the second semifinal between West Virginia (13-2-5) and Connecticut (7-8-5) at Noon ET on Sunday, Nov. 9. The tournament champion will earn the league's automatic berth in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. "Our team is excited to return to Alumni Field and take on Notre Dame. They are the top-ranked team in the country for a reason and we embrace the challenge by playing them," said head coach Markus Roeders. "Having played them earlier in the year should help our preparation going into the match, but we expect both teams to be more seasoned and playing even better soccer. We have to play a determined 90 minutes of soccer against them to succeed. Our schedule has prepared us well for games like these and we will be ready. Our expectation is to be part of the Big East `final four' every year. We get to play for a BIG EAST Championship and we know it will bring the best out of our squad." The four teams in the semifinal round all had to play quarterfinal matches to earn the trip to Notre Dame. Marquette defeated No. 24 Rutgers 1-0 thanks to a Ashley Bares' unassisted strike in the 52nd minute. Connecticut went on the road to defeat Georgetown, 2-1, while Notre Dame shut out Cincinnati 5-0 and West Virginia routed Louisville, 4-0. MU is one of two non-original BIG EAST Conference members to advance to the semifinals since the league expanded in 2005. Marquette is 0-2 all-time in the BIG EAST Semifinals with both of those losses coming against Notre Dame. Marquette fell to Notre Dame, 3-0, in 2005, and 2-0 in 2006. The Golden Eagles enter the game riding a two-game win streak. Following its win over then No. 24 Rutgers, Marquette jumped into Soccer America's Top-25 at No. 25. Sophomore Ashley Bares' has had the hot foot in MU's last two wins notching a pair of unassisted game-winning goals to help Marquette defeat Pittsburgh, 2-0, in the regular season finale and the lone goal against Rutgers in the BIG EAST Quarterfinals. For the season, Bares leads the team with 12 points on five goals - all of which were game winners - and two assists. Freshman Natalie Kulla has been exceptional in net during her rookie season as she boasts the league's seventh best goals against average (0.74), and has registered six shutouts. Marquette's defense will have its hands full with Notre Dame's top-ranked scoring offense that has totaled 69 goals this season, an average of 3.63 goals per game. The Fighting Irish boasts six players who each have scored double-digit points this season, three that have registered 20 or more points led by senior All-American forward and MAC Hermann Trophy candidate Kerry Hanks with 46 points on 18 goals and 10 assists. Hanks 2.42 points per game ranks fourth in the nation, while her goals per game average (.947) is ninth. Freshman Melissa Henderson is second in the BIG EAST with 15 goals and 30 points. "Notre Dame is tremendous in all areas of the field, and they won't let an opponent relax any time. Besides the chances they create during the run of play, they are threatening on set plays. Staying organized and communicating is a key to our success," said Roeders. Defensively, Notre Dame boasts a 0.419 goals against average, allowing just eight goals on the season. Junior Kelsey Lysander has seen the vast majority of minutes in net, surrendering all eight goals in 1511:29. The Notre Dame defense has stifled teams this season, allowing just 45 shots on goal. Friday's match will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two schools. Notre Dame has had the upper hand over the Golden Eagles, leading the all-time series 4-1. No. 1 Notre Dame defeated Marquette, 3-1, in the two teams' regular season meeting this season at Alumni Field on Oct. 5. Freshman Danielle Martens' goal in the 60th minute marked the first time an opponent had scored first on the Fighting Irish this season. Martens is also the only active Golden Eagle to score on Notre Dame since MU defeated the Fighting Irish, 4-1, on Sept. 30, 2005. "I thought we gave them a very good match in early October and if we can give 100 percent, why shouldn't we be able to earn a result? We played one of our best games this past Sunday versus Rutgers so the team is peaking at the right time," said Roeders. Roeders' teams are 19-11-1 all-time in conference tournaments. The Golden Eagles captured the Conference-USA Tournament Title in back-to-back seasons in 1999 and 2000. Since 2000, the Golden Eagles have made two appearances in the championship match but have lost. 2008 BIG EAST Championship Nov. 9 - Title Game, live on CBS College Sports and www.bigeast.tv as well as numerous regional sports networks, including locally in Southeastern Wisconsin on Time Warner Sports 32.
Alumni Field - University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.
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