The No. 4/7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s soccer team earned a defiant victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles to claim the 2009 BIG EAST Championship in a physical matchup of No. 1 seeds on Sunday afternoon at Connecticut’s Morrone Stadium.

The Irish had taken a 1-0 lead early in the first half only to see the Golden Eagles tie the game late in the first half before senior midfielder Amanda Clark scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 70:13. The win marked the 11th BIG EAST title in program history and Notre Dame’s fourth conference crown in the past five seasons.

There were an abundance of scoring chances in the first half, beginning with Marquette earning a corner kick just one minute into the game that was headed harmlessly wide of the Irish goal. Notre Dame’s first scoring chance came five minutes into the game when Taylor Knaack kept a ball alive in the Marquette box that Melissa Henderson fired just wide of the net.

The No. 4/7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will now wait for the selection committee to announce the 64-team field for the forthcoming 2009 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship to learn when and where they play next. The field will be announced on Nov. 9 at approximately 8:00 pm (EST) on ESPNews and first round games will be played on Nov. 13.