Confidence is difficult to conjure and easy to lose.
Marquette women’s soccer took a gut punch to its confidence only six minutes into its matchup against Loyola Chicago when the Ramblers found the back of the cage on a cross-field shot.
In that moment, simply put — no Marquette player was smiling.
“It’s tough,” Marquette head coach Chris Allen said. “Obviously, it’s been a tough couple weeks around Marquette and we were really wanting to get together, pour into each other and start on the front foot.”
Despite this confidence-shaking goal, the Golden Eagles used a high shot volume throughout the second half to finally punch a goal in for the tie.
It took some struggling, though.
Only four minutes in, Loyola goalie, Allison Deardorff fumbled a shot save and sophomore forward Megan Murray found herself in the scrum for the rebound.
The ball broke out, Murray took the shot, but it flew high over the net.
A confidence-shaker.
Two minutes later, Loyola would make the score 1-0.
“When we go as a two front, you lose something in the midfield,” Allen said. “And they have a very strong midfield and whatnot. We’re numerically down, and they found the ball.”
During the following 25 minutes, Marquette struggled to retain possession of the ball on Loyola’s side of the field for more than little spurts at a time.
Misplaced passes and a persistent Rambler defense saw the Golden Eagles on their heels — fighting to keep the ball away, not often to score.
Marquette wouldn’t find its second goal-opportunity until 32 minutes in when first-year defender Clare Shea and junior midfielder Ella McAlleenan took shots in back-to-back possessions. Though both were slow and right into Deardorff’s embrace.
Even less confidence to go around.
The Golden Eagles continued being forced into defense, but when it got opportunities on offense, they were able to get attempts on the net. In a 20-minute span starting in the 49th minute, Marquette outshot Loyola 5-4.
“I think the biggest thing that we were disappointed about was [the Golden Eagles’ previous game], is that we just didn’t feel like they felt our identity. They didn’t know exactly who we were,” Allen said. “We wanted to make sure Loyola knew who we were by the end of this.”
As first-year defender Meg Decker ran towards the right side of the goal with a defender on her hip, she pitched it across the net towards Jocelyn Leigh who headed it in to tie the match in the 75th minute.
80′ | MU – 1 | LOYOLA – 1
Jocelyn Leigh scores her fourth goal of the season against her former team. pic.twitter.com/ZBfyRXwBwE
— MARQUETTE Soccer (@MarquetteWSOC) September 14, 2025
Despite some close shots on goal from either team in the closing moments, the tie stuck.
It wasn’t too easy for Marquette to lose its confidence.
Injuries
During the 44th and 64th minute respectfully, junior defender Carly Christopher and Murray went down with injuries and both needed help off the field.
Allen said that he didn’t want to comment on their condition until they got evaluated.
Up next
Marquette will open up conference play Saturday when they welcome Butler to Valley Fields for a 7 p.m. CST matchup. The broadcast will be held on ESPN+.
This recap was written by Benjamin Hanson. He can be reached at benjamin.hanson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU.