Everything seemed to be going Marquette women’s soccer’s way leading up to the 74th minute.
It had the advantage in shots (12-5), corners (8-1) and senior forward Tess O’Connell had just scored a go-ahead goal, marking her fifth of the year.
But then the Golden Eagles’ defense turned over the ball, which led to a DePaul (2-5-5, 0-1-3) goal, and Marquette (4-7-3, 1-2-1) was forced to settle for a 1-1 draw Sunday afternoon at Wish Field in Chicago.
The draw marks the first time since 2019 that the Golden Eagles have not defeated the Blue Demons.
The Blue Demons play spoiler to earn tie
The scales were tipped in Marquette’s direction for most of the match until DePaul’s offense found the spark it was looking for.
In the 74th minute, junior forward Briley Hill took the ball off a Marquette defender, dribbled toward the box and used her left foot to slot it into the bottom right corner to equalize the game.
Hill nets an equalizer for her FIRST goal in scarlet and blue
#BlueGrit
https://t.co/geR5kuKfJc pic.twitter.com/DeyhlVoGTu
— DePaul Women’s Soccer (@DePaulWSOC) October 6, 2024
The goal marked Hill’s first one as a Blue Demon after transferring from Nebraska this season.
Marquette piles on the pressure
The Golden Eagles controlled possession of the ball for the majority of the first half and earned a few quality chances.
Marquette recorded its first shot in the 10th minute when the ball came to sophomore forward Haley Christianson in the box, who controlled it and fired it left just wide of the goal.
Sophomore midfielder Kiley McMinn attempted the Golden Eagles’ second shot eight minutes later, but hers was saved by DePaul graduate student goalkeeper Elena Milam.
Marquette fired off five consecutive shots throughout the rest of the frame — earning five corner kicks and outshooting DePaul 7-4 — but was not able to capitalize on those opportunities as it went into the locker room tied 0-0.
The Golden Eagles finished with 12 shots — five of which were on goal — compared to the Blue Demons’ 10 shots with four of them forcing a reaction from sophomore goalkeeper Elise Krone.
Up next
Marquette returns to Milwaukee to face UConn (7-2-3, 1-1-2) next Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at kaylynn.wright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @KaylynnWrightMU.