Marquette Men’s Soccer Releases Full 2018 Schedule

The third and final piece of the 2018 fall schedule for Marquette athletics in in place as the men’s soccer team has announced the full slate of fixtures.

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The home dates on the schedule had already been announced in late April, which means we’re primarily focused on the road dates here. The Golden Eagles have just two non-conference road dates this season. Their first road game of the year doubles as the first game of September, as MU will visit Saint Louis on September 4th. It’s the third straight year with a match against the Billikens, although SLU has a 20-3-2 advantage in the all-time series. The other road contest comes two matches later, with Marquette headed off to tangle with Michigan on September 10th. The Wolverines went 12-6-2 last season, earning themselves a #13 seed in the NCAA tournament, and their first spot in the field since 2012. However, they promptly lost their first match in the tourney to Colgate.

With the Wolverines on the table, Marquette will face five total squads that reached the NCAA tournament in 2017. Central Arkansas and Wisconsin join Michigan in the non-conference section of the schedule, while Butler and Georgetown loom in the Big East slate. Of the five games against postseason level competition, three will come in the friendly confines of Valley Fields.

It’s an interesting schedule for Louis Bennett’s 13th season in charge. Marquette has gone just 13-28-8 over the past three seasons, and the Golden Eagles have gone just 6-17-3 in Big East play in that time, missing the six team conference tournament in all three seasons. With three of the seven non-conference foes coming off NCAA tournament appearances in 2017, it seems like the coaching staff has elected to put the team in a position to be challenged in 2018. Part of Marquette’s problem in 2017 was inconsistency merely in the lineup, as just two players started all 16 matches, and only six played in all 16. Only one more appeared in 15 contests. When you’re getting manpower games stolen from you merely by injury, it ends up taking a toll on what you can accomplish.

Marquette returns a quality core of players from last season that, if healthy, should end up providing a better result than the 3-11-2 record they had in 2017. If not, Bennett can turn to the 12 newcomers that he’s brought in for 2018, including a handful of gents who have already been on campus for the spring semester. Hopefully it all adds up to at least a Big East tournament bid.

Here’s the full rundown of the 2018 season, which features 10 regular season home games, the most since 2014.