Marquette Women’s Soccer Adds Paul Sikinger As Assistant Coach

Back in late January, Marquette women’s soccer lost an assistant coach. Steve Bode had joined Frank Pelaez’s staff when Pelaez was first hired at Marquette, moving north to Wisconsin from the Loyola Chicago men’s soccer program. When the Ramblers had an opening to fill for the top job with the MSOC program, Bode was their man.

That left Pelaez a spot to fill for Year Three of his tenure as the head coach at Marquette, and he finalized that spot on Tuesday. Paul Sikinger is the guy and he’ll be making his debut on a collegiate sideline this fall.

Here’s Pelaez on his new assistant:

“We are extremely excited to have Paul joining the women’s soccer family at Marquette,” Pelaez said. ”He is a great fit with the culture we are building within the program and his connection to the soccer community in the area will be a tremendous benefit moving forward.”

Sikinger’s most recent job was Director of Elite Clubs National League for FC Wisconsin. Specifically, Sikinger was running the regional program for the only club soccer outfit that was participating in the ECNL organization, so that seems like a pretty big deal relative to the club soccer scene. I’ve noticed over the past several years that there’s a lot of MU soccer players on the women’s side that aren’t participating in the traditional high school soccer scene, instead opting to focus on their club team instead. If Sikinger is extremely tied in to that entire arrangement, that certainly lends a certain amount of recruiting advantage to the Golden Eagles now.

On top of his work with FC Wisconsin, Sikinger was also the varsity girls’ soccer coach at Germantown High School since 2010. I feel like that might work out long term for the Golden Eagles as well. MU already has one of his alumni, Carina Murphy, on the roster, after all.

Here’s Sikinger, a 2010 graduate of Cardinal Stritch University, on his new job:

“I am extremely blessed to be a part of the Marquette women’s soccer program,” Sikinger said. ”This is a special place that is rich in history and the has an incredible support system throughout the university and with the alumni.

“I am excited to be able to help the current student-athletes reach excellence on and off the field, while making the alumni proud,” Sikinger added. ”From the coaching staff, to the support being shown all around campus, it’s an honor and a dream to be a part of this incredible environment!”

Marquette went 9-8-0 in Pelaez’s first “real” season of soccer at Marquette, including a 5-5-0 record in Big East play. The Golden Eagles went 6-4-0 in the abbreviated 2021 spring season with a 4-4-0 mark in conference action. In the fall, Sikinger’s first year with the program, MU will be looking to reach the Big East tournament for the first time since 2017.