MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Panthers women’s soccer team played to a 1-1 draw on Sunday at Valley Fields in their annual matchup with their crosstown rival Marquette.
Marquette’s Ella McAleenan opened up scoring with an 18th minute goal to put the Golden Eagles up 1-0.
The Panthers responded 10 minutes later when Milwaukee’s Kayla Rollins cleaned up a missed shot from Elizabeth Reece to tie the game at one.
“My team’s been doing a great job of getting crosses in, trying to tap them in, and getting crosses with headers,” Rollins said about her goal. “The ball popped out, I saw it, and tapped it right in.”
Milwaukee controlled the game from here, ending the first half with a shot advantage of 9-3, despite the game remaining knotted at a goal each.
Both teams used strong defensive performances to shut down attacks before advancing too close to the net in the second half. With 15 minutes left, the energy ramped up significantly as the teams played with more urgency.
“I did like how tough we defended in the second half, because they’re dangerous in the attack,” says Boyd about the team’s second half effort. “They’re big in the air, and their crosses were super dangerous.”
The defense was strong on both sides – as a result neither team could break through late.
“We got a nice goal, and we kind of held on. In the first half, we were up one, but we got outplayed, and then in the second half we outplayed them, and no one scored.”
The matchup marked the 31st contest between the two teams. Boyd’s first-ever victory as Panthers’ head coach came in the annual contest with Marquette in 2022.
“We always want to come in our best and strongest because every rivalry – you never know what’s going to happen. It’s always our best competition against each other, and so we just want to put our best foot forward and come at them as hard as we can.”
The Panthers wrapped up a tough non-conference schedule on Sunday, with a record of 1-6-1. Their early-season opponents included No. 18 Ohio State, 2023 NCAA Tournament top-four seeds Xavier, Wisconsin and Harvard, and another tournament team in Valparaiso. Their lone win came against UIC.
The Panthers open Horizon League play on the road with a 6 p.m. matchup on Thursday night with Northern Kentucky.