April 12, 2006

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The Golden Eagles dropped a 3-1 decision to Missouri on April 8 at the SportPort Soccer Complex in Maryland Heights, Mo., in their fourth match of the 2006 Spring season.

Missouri - a member of the Big 12 Conference, which finished 9-8-3 during the 2005 season - managed to get on the scoreboard, off a corner kick, in the 36th minute. But Marquette would counter shortly after, as Meghan Connelly took a pass at the corner of the goal box, and put a shot into the back of the net, tying the match at 1-1.

The Golden Eagles let up the eventual winning goal eight minutes into the second frame, on a shot from the right corner. Christy Zwolski swept through the Tigers' defense and fired off a hard shot on the very next Marquette possession, but it was denied. Marquette let up the third Mizzou goal of the match in the 72nd minute. MU lost Michelle Compty in the second half to an injury suffered due to poor field conditions on the pitch. In all, seven Golden Eagles missed the match due to injury.

"We struggled in several areas today. The uneven surface made it difficult to play good possession soccer and we didn't respond well to Missouri's physical style of play." said head coach Markus Roeders. "It didn't help that seven of our players couldn't play due to injuries. We ended up playing too many players out of position."

"But, we have gained positives from this game and the temporary setback will prove beneficial as we move forward." he added. "The Spring is all about learning and we are a better team having played this game. The team has two weeks to recover and get healthier before we embark on our final two weekends of play."

Marquette will return to action during Spring play on April 22, when they travel to the Twin Cities to face Minnesota and Creighton - a member of the Field of 64 in the 2005 NCAA Tournament this past Fall. The Golden Eagles close Spring action on April 29 at Valley Fields, when they host the Marquette University Games with Northwestern, Loyola (Ill.), UW-Oshkosh and the Chicago Eclipse U18 club competing.