It was close but no cigar for the woman’s soccer team on Sunday when it was eliminated from the Big East tournament after a 1-0 loss against Marquette

The team was able to clinch its their spot in the tournament last week during its last two games of the regular season and was lucky enough to secure a home game for the first round of the tournament.

The ‘Cats beat Connecticut to move to the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The game on Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields was not as successful, as the players were not able to find their groove offensively.

The closest the team came to getting on the board was in the final minutes of game play. In the 83rd minute junior forward Rachel Schuyler managed to dribble past a Golden Eagle defender and blast a shot from the top of the 18 yard box. Another Marquette player was able to get there just in time and deflected the ball to another ‘Nova player. Senior forward Grace Hawkins had a clear shot on goal but at the last second a Marquette player ran in to stop the ball from finding the back of the net.

It was in the 37th minute that Marquette scored the only goal of the game from a corner kick. Villanova senior goalkeeper Molly Williams had an impressive seven saves for the game. At the end of the game the Golden Eagles had an 18-8 shot count advantage and was 8-1 in shots on goal.

For the Golden Eagles it was sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Kulla who earned the shutout. The Golden Eagles now move on to the semifinal game against West Virginia.

Now that the team is out of the Big East Championship their focus is turned to the NCAA Championship. The selections for the 64-team tournament bracket are announced on Monday. In the past, Villanova has been successful in the NCAA tournament. This is the Wildcats’ 11th consecutive season with at least 10 victories and a winning record. Although the Big East tournament is in the past, hopefully ‘Nova can bring their winning attitude to the NCAA tournament to continue their season.