Marquette Women's Soccer Preview: Vs Seton Hall

31 straight matches.

Didn't matter where.  Marquette went without a loss 31 straight times against Big East foes.  Only twice did they even end a match in a draw.

But last Sunday afternoon, Georgetown unleashed four second half goals past keeper Amanda Engel, and the Golden Eagles lost a Big East match for the first time since September 18, 2011.  It's been a rough season so far, with a 7-6-2 record, but that loss to the Hoyas snapped a six game unbeaten streak for Marquette, and they had been looking like they had turned things around from the early season form of play.

Tonight, they return to Valley Fields, where they haven't lost to a conference opponent in 26 straight contests, a streak reaching back to October 2, 2009.  On that occasion, it was #13 Rutgers that carried the day, 3-1.  Tonight's opponent... well, they're from New Jersey, too, but they're not as good as the Scarlet Knights were five years ago...

Big East Match #6: vs Seton Hall (3-7-4, 0-3-2 Big East)

When: Thursday, October 16, 2014, at 7pm
Where: Valley Fields
Audio/Visual: Grab your Fox Sports Go app, because this one's on the Big East Digital Network.  Live stats will be available here.
Special Promotions: Marquette will be wearing pink as part of Kick For A Cure, their breast cancer awareness campaign.  Students that bring three friends to the match get FREE PIZZA at halftime.
Twitter Updates: @MUWomensSoccer

Ok, no, Seton Hall's not having a great season by any measure.  Their wins are against Marist, Army, and LIU Brooklyn, and they've scored just one goal in Big East contests with that one coming in a 1-1 draw with Creighton.

While the Pirates don't have an impressive record, that's largely because of their offense.  They have eight goals, all scored by a different player.  On top of that, they only have four assists all season, and three of those have come from junior midfielder Amanda Gulli.

What they do have going for them is sophomore goalkeeper Illissa Blackshear.  She took over for SHU halfway through their third match of the year, and she's been starting since then.  The Pirates have the fewest goals allowed in the Big East this season at 13, and only 10 of those went past Blackshear.  She has the best goals-against average in the league at 0.83, and since they've allowed 175 shots against this season, Blackshear leads the Big East in save percentage, too, at .836.