Marquette Women's Soccer Announces 2016 Schedule

Marquette women's soccer will be aiming at a return to championship form in the 2016 season, and now we have the full schedule to see how they're going to go about that process.

There's 10 non-conference matches on the slate, with only four of them coming at home at Valley Fields. Marquette gets the advantage in Big East play, as they'll play five home games and four road games this season. Even better than that, four of those home league games - DePaul, Georgetown, St. John's, and Butler - will be contested in Milwaukee, thus handing the Golden Eagles a prime opportunity to compete for the Big East regular season title this season.

In or out of conference play, it'll be a series of tough tests for the Golden Eagles, highlighted by a Labor Day weekend trip to the Bay Area. They'll be out in northern California for a pair of games, first against Santa Clara on Thursday night, and then against Stanford on Sunday afternoon. The Broncos finished the season ranked #12 in the final coaches' poll and earned a #4 regional seed in the NCAA tournament before falling to unseeded Arizona in the second round. The Cardinal, on the other hand, were the 2015 Pac12 champs and earned the #1 seed in the same region that Santa Clara was in last season. Stanford advanced to the Elite Eight a year ago before drawing with #3 seed Duke and were eliminated on penalty kicks.

Two more of Marquette's non-conference opponents earned votes in the final coaches' poll last season. Both Michigan and Northwestern received votes but were not ranked in the top 25. The Wildcats earned a bid to the NCAA tournament and advanced to the second round, while the Wolverines were left out of the 64 team field. Three of MU's Big East compatriots - Georgetown, Butler, and St. John's - also made it into postseason action, but none of them advanced out of the first round.

Marquette's home opener will be on August 28th, the day before classes start for the fall semester. The Golden Eagles will host Michigan on that Sunday afternoon for what will be their fourth regular season game. Big East play starts against Creighton in Omaha on Sunday, September 25th, and the first Big East home game will bring Seton Hall to town on Thursday, September 29th. Senior Day will also match up with MU's final regular season game this year, as the Golden Eagles host DePaul on Friday, October 28th.

Here's the full slate, complete with scheduled start times.

You can read the official press release on the schedule, including commentary from head coach Markus Roeders, right here.