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ALTON – After a 2-1 loss to Mascoutah back on St. Patty’s Day, the Marquette Catholic girls' soccer team was able to bounce back against Murphysboro and pick up the win.
The Explorers were victorious by a margin of 3-0 as they wrap up play in the Metro Cup. They boost their season record to 2-1.
It was once again freshman forward Ella Anselm with another two-goal performance. She scored both goals in the season opener against Springfield when Marquette won 2-1. She now leads her team with four goals in just three games.
This was a game that Marquette pretty much had control of the entire time. The Explorers maintained most of the possession throughout the game, especially early on in the first half.
Marquette dominated the opening 15 before Anselm found the back of the net for her first in the 16th minute. She scored her second nearly ten minutes later in the 27th minute to make it a 2-0 lead.
Head coach Brian Hoener was once again happy with Anselm’s performance.
“Ella has gotten off to a great start and her teammates are helping put her in some good positions,” Hoener said after the win.
Two minutes after that freshman midfielder Livy Covert put home the final goal of the game in the 29th minute to make it 3-0 Marquette.
Senior Jillian Nelson nearly made it four but her shot from distance hit the post in the 56th minute.
Murphysboro did have their chances, but it wasn’t too much for junior goalkeeper Hanna Marshall to handle as she picked up her first clean sheet of the season.
“You always want to make sure you’re limiting the other team’s chances and I thought we did a really good job of that today,” Hoener said.
“I thought the backline was really good. Hanna wasn’t tested too much, but it’s good to get into those good habits and getting shutouts is a good habit to build.”
Back in the season opener, the coach mentioned that he was starting a lot of freshman girls who would play in their first high school game. He said that there were certainly some nerves.
“I think they’re still learning a little bit. Today was our first Saturday afternoon game and we weren’t as focused as I think we should’ve been.”
Marquette graduated nine seniors last season, so this year you could say is a bit of a rebuild, but with freshmen like Ella Anselm following in her older sister’s footsteps, the program really should have something worth looking forward to.
There are a lot of girls that may need to go through a bit of a learning curve, but if this squad can put it all together, they could be pretty dangerous moving forward.
The Explorers have pair of away games coming up. First, they’ll head to Columbia on March 22, kicking off under the lights at 6:30 p.m. Then they’ll travel to Mater Dei on March 24 and play at 4:30 p.m.
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