Marquette captures seventh girls soccer tournament over CM

This is getting to be a habit for Marquette's girls soccer team.

The Explorers advanced to their seventh IHSA Class 1A Girls Regional Championship Tournament running Saturday morning, getting a pair of goals in each half on their way to a 4-0 win over Civic Memorial in the CM Regional final at Bethalto Sports Complex.

Marquette advanced into this week's Columbia Sectional, where they will face Breese Mater Dei, 4-0 winners over Olney-East Richland in the Olney Regional final, in the sectional semifinals at 5 p.m. Tuesday; the winner of that match meets the Columbia-Waterloo Gibault semifinal winner at 6 p.m. Friday for the sectional crown and a trip to the University of Illinois-Springfield Supersectional to meet the Quincy Notre Dame Sectional winner.

The match had originally been scheduled for Friday evening, but heavy storms that swept into the area right before the start of the match forced a postponement into Saturday.

Not that it may have mattered much to the Explorers; they took the play to the Eagles early on and never allowed the Eagles to get much of an attack going.

Still, at this point in the season, the main idea is to keep winning to advance, and that's what Marquette has in mind. “We're taking it one game at a time,” said Explorer coach Steve Mitchell. “We came at them pretty hard at the start and they all played pretty well today.”

One of those players is sophomore Annabelle Copeland, who recently returned from an injury that forced her to miss several games. “Having her back is a big boost for us,” Mitchell said.

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The Eagles featured several young players on their roster this season, led by freshman Cassie Hall, and first-year coach Eric Zyung believes CM has a very bright future ahead of them. “We had five seniors on our roster this year,” Zyung said, “and I'm really proud of all of them. We'll miss them, of course, but we think we have a very bright future ahead of us.”

CM's game plan was simple: Try to take the game to Marquette from the start, especially early on. “We tried to take it to them, put some pressure on them,” Zyung said. “They played pretty wide with their touches and they didn't panic.”

It didn't take the Explorers long to get on the board; in the ninth minute, off a scramble in front, Nicole Grimaud pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area and slid it into the net for a 1-0 Marquette lead. The lead went to 2-0 in the 28^th minute when a Claire Dalton shot got past Eagle goalkeeper Samantha Mann to extend the lead to 2-0, putting the Explorers in control.

A 41st-minute goal from Copeland essentially put the game out of reach, and the Explorers put the final nail in the Eagles' coffin when Taylor Aguirre scored in the 66^th minute to hand Marquette the regional plaque.

Marquette took its record to 13-5-3 on the year with the win; CM was eliminated with a mark of 10-8-1.

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