Marquette Women’s Soccer Announces The 2022 Schedule

We already have the schedule for this coming fall’s Marquette volleyball season, so it was only a matter of time before we got more schedule news. On Tuesday, Marquette posted the 2022 women’s soccer schedule on GoMarquette.com in order to help fulfill that prophecy.

There are 18 regular season matches on the schedule for this year, broken up as eight non-conference contests and 10 Big East matches. Quite nicely, both sections of the schedule are split right down the middle home and road. Four and four in the non-conference schedule, and then five and five in the Big East.

Here’s what head coach Frank Pelaez said about the schedule for his third season in charge:

“We are extremely excited about getting our team back on campus in early August and will have our first exhibition right away,” Pelaez said. ”Our non-conference schedule will test us early and often and have us well prepared for BIG EAST play.”

After two home exhibition matches against Wisconsin on August 7th and Purdue on August 10th, both of whom qualified for the NCAA tournament last fall, Marquette will officially open the season on the road on Thursday, August 18th, with a road trip to visit Notre Dame. The Irish finished last season ranked #16 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. MU will head a little bit northwards while out on the road for their second match of the season the following Sunday when they visit Central Michigan. MU is unbeaten in six matches against the Chippewas, and this will be the the first time the two teams have ever met in Mount Pleasant.

MU returns to Milwaukee for the home opener on August 25th when they will face Milwaukee on the second of two days of Freshman Move-In on campus. The series with the Panthers is picking back up for the first time since 2019, and the two teams are deadlocked at 10-10-8 all time. UWM is coming off an NCAA tournament appearance last fall where they beat Big East foe Xavier to advance to the second round. One week later, Marquette will host UIC for the second consecutive season. MU won last year’s first ever encounter on a 17th minute goal credited to Rachel Johnson. The Golden Eagles will wrap up their three game homestand three days later when Green Bay comes to town. Marquette is 13-1-0 all time in the series and riding a 13 match winning streak.

After that, it’s off to the Twin Cities for a pair of matches. First up is St. Thomas on September 8 in a return trip after MU won the first ever meeting in Milwaukee last season. The Golden Eagles will stay in up north to face Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. The Gophers hold a 4-2-1 advantage in the all-time series, with 2019’s Marquette 1-0 win coming as the only meeting since 2015.

Because I know you’re keeping track, I know you’ve figured out that there’s just one non-conference contest left to go. That will back at home on September 15th, and Western Michigan will be the opponent. Marquette is 2-1-0 all time against the Broncos with wins in 2009 and 2010 and a 1-0 loss in the 2013 NCAA tournament.

If this schedule seems very familiar to you, it should. Five of Marquette’s eight opponents were on the schedule last season, and there should have been a sixth. Green Bay had to cancel out of a match early in the 2021 campaign. Most of the matches are merely road trip returns on MU home games last season, which makes sense.

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that Marquette is playing all of their non-conference matches on Thursdays and Sundays. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence or random chance or if it’s Pelaez electing to have his team play the kind of schedule they’ll play in Big East action. Every single Big East match is on a Thursday or a Sunday, so at least things will stay nice and regular all season long.

Big East play will open on September 22nd when Marquette visits DePaul. The home opener in league action is September 29th against Creighton, and the regular season will wrap up with Senior Night on Thursday, October 27th.

Pelaez is 15-12-0 in his first two seasons in charge in Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles will be looking to improve on their 9-8-0 record overall and 5-5-0 record in Big East play from a year ago as they chase after the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016 and just the second since 2013.

Here’s the full schedule!