Marquette Women’s Soccer Preview: vs Butler

Here’s the deal:

Marquette can clinch a Big East tournament berth with a win or a draw against Butler or a win or a draw against DePaul in the regular season finale on Friday.

Marquette can keep their hopes for the #1 seed in the Big East tournament alive with a win over Butler and a DePaul win over Georgetown on Sunday. Even with a draw between the Blue Demons and the Hoyas, a Marquette win over Butler would keep MU’s chances at a shared regular season title alive.

No pressure, am I right?

Here’s what the Golden Eagles have going for them in Sunday afternoon’s match. They have Maddy Henry, who has thrown up shutouts in four of MU’s last five matches. They have five players with at least three goals this season and 11 players total who have scored at least one goal, meaning good luck to their opponents on trying to figure out how to stop them. They have 23 assists on 23 non-penalty kick goals, so MU is more than happy to share the ball in an effort to score.

Low key note: Head coach Markus Roeders’ next win will be the 300th in his career, all of which has been spent at Marquette.

Big East Match #8: vs Butler (10-5-2, 3-3-1 Big East)

When: Sunday, October 22, 2016, at 1pm CT
Where: Valley Fields
Audio/Visual: The Big East Digital Network on Fox Sports Go has the video stream & there’s live stats.
Twitter Updates: @MUWomensSoccer & @ButlerWSoccer

The all time series is deadlocked at 2-2-1 after the two squads split their two meetings a year ago. Marquette got the 1-0 win in the regular season, but Butler got the 1-0 victory when it mattered in the Big East tournament.

While there’s a lot at stake for Marquette at the top of the Big East table, there’s a lot at stake for the Bulldogs, too. They’ve won their last two matches to recover from a 1-3-1 start to conference play and shift themselves into the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament. Right now, they’re just as close to second place as they are to last place, so they’re in quite the precarious position with two matches left to play.

Marquette will need to keep their eyes on Serina Kashimoto. The former defensive star for the Bulldogs has turned herself into an offensive powerhouse here in her senior year. Her 23 points are good enough for the fifth best mark in the Big East, and her nine goals are tied for the third highest total in the league this season. Her five assists on the year are part of a massive tie for the fifth most helpers in the conference.

Redshirt freshman Hannah Luedtke has played a heavy majority of the minutes in net for the Bulldogs this season, and she’s doing pretty well for someone in their first season of competition. She’s got the third best goals-against average in the Big East at 0.84 and she’s one of four keepers in the conference with a save percentage over 80%.