Anonymous Eagle - The 2018 Marquette Women’s Soccer Season PreviewYour home for coverage of Wisconsin's elite college athletics.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46843/anon-fave.png2018-08-15T13:15:01-05:00http://www.anonymouseagle.com/rss/stream/174243592018-08-15T13:15:01-05:002018-08-15T13:15:01-05:002018 Women’s Soccer Preview: 3 Questions
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<figcaption>IT’S GAME TIME! | Facebook.com/MarquetteWSOC</figcaption>
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<p>We tackle the most important questions leading up to the season.</p> <p id="z5078A">With the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> kicking of their season on Thursday, I have come up with three very essential questions I have for this year. The team had a somewhat disappointing season last year losing five times in Big East play and missing out on the NCAA Tournament. The answers to these three questions will be imperative to their success this year. </p>
<h3 id="17z8Ha"><strong>What can we expect from the new-look midfield? </strong></h3>
<p id="ZaPTGy">Eli Beard, Caroline Fink, and Ryley Bugay started 90% of the games together last season. Both Beard and Fink have graduated which leaves Bugay as the lone returner with quality experience in the midfield. Heather Handwork was the only other player to start in the midfield when coach Roeders decided to play with four midfielders against Rhode Island with the absence of Madden. It seems like Roeders is looking elsewhere to fill the remaining midfield positions. In the two preseason games, Roeders started Leah Celarek and freshmen Katrina Wetherell alongside Bugay. Celarek spent last season on the back line starting 8 of the 15 games she played in, while Wetherell is a promising freshmen most recently netting 26 goals with five hat-tricks in her senior season at Kellis High School. It’s clear that the midfield is an experiment in progress, but there is some optimism with Celarek’s defensive experience and Wetherell’s goal-scoring abilities that she showed in High School. Celarek will likely slot as a defensive midfielder, while Wetherell and Bugay will play as attacking midfielders in Roeders’ common 4-3-3 lineup. </p>
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<strong>Can the Golden Eagles be more dominant in Big East play?</strong> </h3>
<p id="AOwoR9">Marquette lost five games against Big East foes (including conference tournament action) last season which was the most since the realignment of the Big East. Four of the five were complete blowouts where Marquette was out-shot and out-played. Three of the games were against either Georgetown or Butler so I’m not going to knock them for losing against the powerhouses of the league last year. However, the other two losses were to Providence and Villanova. Providence just barely beat the Golden Eagles out for 3rd place while ‘Nova finished second to last. Both were unprecedented losses as Marquette had never lost to either of those teams...ever. <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2017/9/29/16383030/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-villanova-wildcats-recap-score-what-what-happened">The Villanova game was ugly as MU suffered a 4-1 defeat</a>, while falling apart in an 18 minute stretch in the second half and only avoiding a shutout thanks to an own goal in the 83rd minute. Obviously the goal this year is to avoid bad losses. My expectation is for them to beat every team not named Georgetown or Butler. I also think they’ll be more competitive against the front-runners too. Carrie Madden will hopefully be healthy the entire season and the MU defensive end looks rock solid, returning four starters. This team has a lot of experience coming back and they will be striving to make the NCAA Tournament this year after missing out last season. Let’s see how the Golden Eagles fare in non-conference play, but I fully expect them to be more dominant against Big East opponents this season.</p>
<h3 id="IrEVra"><strong>Which player has the best name on the team? </strong></h3>
<p id="YswvTn">Okay so here’s the deal: this squad has a lot of players with fun names. My question is, who’s got the best one? We’ve all become accustomed to Kylie Sprecher and Heather Handwork who led the team last year in exquisite last names. Sprecher won last year because <a href="https://www.sprecherbrewery.com/">it’s also a great local brewing company</a> and we here at Anonymous Eagle love good beer. And Handwork is just great because it’s fun to say her name since both her first and last name start with ‘H’. Who doesn’t like alliteration?? Communists, that’s who. But this is a new year and a lot of incoming freshmen are vying to dethrone Sprecher and Handwork. The three that have risen above the rest are Macey Shock, Alyssa Bombacino, and Katie Koker. Shock is a powerful last name and is an announcers dream. It gives them creative ways to talk about her when she does something good on the field. My personal favorite: “She shocked the defense with her lightning quick moves and left the goalkeeper paralyzed with fear as she thundered the ball into the net.” Bom-buh-SEE-no is another great one simply because it’s so fun to say. A lot of vowels and syllables always makes for a top-notch last name. Try saying that five times fast. Lastly, Katie Koker. For the reasons stated before, the first letters of her first and last name make for a fun alliteration pronunciation. All three are worthy candidates but who do you think deserves the top spot? One of the veterans or an up and coming star? Make sure you vote below!</p>
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https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/8/15/17692396/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-season-preview-three-questions-bugay-celarek-wetherellBesay2018-08-13T15:30:02-05:002018-08-13T15:30:02-05:002018 Women’s Soccer Preview: Looking at the Returners
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<p>Marquette has a lot of experience coming back for 2018</p> <p id="7xEfE6">Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven’t noticed, the start of the women’s soccer season is upon us. Markus Roeders and Co. kick off their 2018 campaign when they visit <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/cal-poly-slo-mustangs">Cal Poly</a> this Thursday. This week we will be giving you a quick refresher about where the team stands and what you can expect coming in to the season. Mr. Brewtown Andy already started this preview series with a look at <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette’</a>s newcomers and you can check that out <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/8/10/17645462/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-preview-freshmen-wetherell-lacey-koker-bombacino-shock">here</a>. Today I will talk about the returners. </p>
<p id="Nxok31">The Golden Eagles have 21 returning players of which 19 of them got playing time last year. Maura Weaver and Meredith McGuire both redshirted while Rachel Johnson played three games before getting injured and declaring for a medical redshirt. I will lay out the returning squad starting with the goalkeepers and ending with the forwards. </p>
<p id="sdnxTF"><strong>Goalkeepers:</strong> Junior Maddy Henry and Senior Sloane Carlson </p>
<p id="iHvF1R">Maddy Henry is Marquette’s saving grace in net. She has been the starting goalkeeper since her freshmen year and has racked up 14 shutouts and a goals against average of 1.17 in her two seasons. Last year she finished third in the Big East in saves averaging 4.71 per game and second in shutouts with 10. On countless occasions, Henry kept Marquette in the game with timely saves and gave the team a shot to get a result. She stood on her head with a career high 9 saves in the season opener against no. 2 Stanford last year. She also had key 7 and 6 save games in close contests against St. John’s and Xavier down the stretch. I have no doubt that she will continue to be the shot-stopping machine when called into action this season. I say “when called into action” because I expect the defense to be stronger this year. </p>
<p id="cl84wK"><strong>Defenders: </strong>Junior<strong> </strong>Emily Hess, redshirt junior Brianna Jaeger, sophomore Maddie Monticello, senior Leah Celarek, senior Allison Jacobson, redshirt sophomore Mary Kate Simon, redshirt sophomore Maura Weaver</p>
<p id="P0NnDi">Marquette has an enormous amount of experience on defense. The four that have started both preseason games (Hess, Jacobson, Jaeger, & Monticello) have a combined 46 starts between them and all of them played in at least 15 games last season. The preseason games lead me to believe that this will be the back four that coach Roeders goes with in the opener against Cal Poly. Leading this group is the Illinois native Emily Hess who saw the field in every game last year and was on the 2016 Big East All-Freshmen Team. There is optimism that this defense will be improved from last year where they were in the bottom half of the Big East in goals allowed with 23. They’ll need to tighten it up in the back because their non-conference play will feature two top-10 opponents in Duke (#3) and North Carolina (#6) according to the <a href="http://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web/Rankings/College_Rankings/NCAA_DI_WOMEN/web/rankings/ncaa/di_women.aspx?_zs=SpW3N1&_zl=hJ2c4">United Soccer Coaches preseason poll</a>. They will also battle Wisconsin and UWM who are in the receiving votes category. A strong back line will be necessary right of the get-go. </p>
<p id="i0rjid"><strong>Midfielders (M/F): </strong>Redshirt senior Ryley Bugay, redshirt senior Heather Handiwork, redshirt sophomore Erin Johnston, redshirt freshman Rachel Johnson, sophomore Maggie Lena, sophomore Elaina Eckert, redshirt sophomore Josie Fowler, redshirt freshman Meredith McGuire</p>
<p id="xY56W4">The midfielders as well as those designated as midfield/forwards is probably where Marquette has the least experience. Ryley Bugay was the only one to start all 21 games. Other than that, Heather Handiwork and Erin Johnston have one start a piece and the remaining players combined to play 108 minutes last season. If the preseason matches are any indication of the starting lineup to kick-off the season, then it looks like Bugay and Celarek will team up with freshman Katrina Wetherell to start in the midfield. It’s clear with the midfielders he’s started in both of the tune-up games that coach Roeders is trying out some new things. Celarek is listed as a defender on the roster but had 8 starts in 15 games last year and comes with a veteran presence. We’ll see if Roeders mixes up the midfield and toys with different lineups in the first few games. </p>
<p id="JJw88S"><strong>Forwards:</strong> Redshirt senior Carrie Madden, sophomore Kylie Sprecher, redshirt sophomore Abby Hess, and senior Jamie Kutey</p>
<p id="6tbcmQ">Carrie Madden leads the way in the attack leading the team in points last year with 19 (7 goals, 5 assists). She finished 5th in the Big East in points all while missing 4 games due to injury. She also made it on the 2017 All-Big East First Team and was a unanimous selection to the preseason All-Big East Team this year. If she stays healthy look for her to be Marquette’s leading goal-scoring threat. Kylie Sprecher stepped up in a big way last year providing a spark as a freshmen with 12 points (3 goals, 6 assists). She will be weapon numero dos on the attack as a scorer but more importantly creating opportunities for her teammates. For some reason, coach Roeders has sat her out in both preseason contests so who knows if she’s recovering from an injury or what else could be going on. Nevertheless, Abby Hess (21 games played last year) and Jamie Kutey (18 games played last year) will have an important role in the attack this year as they’ve both started alongside Madden in the preseason contests. </p>
<p id="l8vN3N">The returners will have a huge impact in how the Golden Eagles play this year. Only one freshmen (Katrina Wetherell) looks like she’ll be in the starting XI in game one. There is a lot of veteran presence on the team who will hopefully guide the Golden Eagles to an NCAA Tournament bid that eluded them last season. </p>
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https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/8/13/17682842/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-preview-returning-players-madden-henry-kutey-celarek-bugayBesay2018-08-12T14:15:02-05:002018-08-12T14:15:02-05:00Marquette Not Ranked In Preseason Men’s & Women’s Soccer Polls
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<figcaption>Facebook.com/MarquetteWSOC</figcaption>
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<p>Neither Golden Eagles squad received votes, but they’ll both get multiple cracks at teams that did.</p> <p id="yx6TFu">The release of preseason polls is always one of the stops on the way to the official start of any college sports season, and college soccer is no different. United Soccer Coaches fired off their preseason polls for both <a href="http://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web/Rankings/College_Rankings/NCAA_DI_MEN/web/Rankings/NCAA/DI_MEN.aspx">men’s</a> and <a href="http://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web/Rankings/College_Rankings/NCAA_DI_WOMEN/web/rankings/ncaa/di_women.aspx">women’s</a> soccer on August 7th to help guide us down the road to the start of both of those seasons.</p>
<p id="9Tazj0">As you can tell from the fact that you’re seeing this story brand new on August 12th, neither of <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette</a>‘s soccer teams are ranked to start off the 2018 campaigns. Neither of those things are a surprise, by the way, as women’s soccer missed the NCAA tournament in 2017 and men’s soccer won just three matches.</p>
<p id="C1uqxz">While neither team will start the season with digits next to their name this season, they’re both going to get their fair share of shots at quality opponents as the season goes on. Men’s soccer is going to get the heavier end of the stick, as they’ll face two top 25 teams in non-conference action, two top 15 teams in league play, and two more Big East foes who earned votes but aren’t ranked. Things get going in the fifth game of the season, when the Golden Eagles will visit #21 <a href="https://www.maizenbrew.com/">Michigan</a>. After two league contests and the yearly Milwaukee Cup game, MU will host #12 <a href="https://www.buckys5thquarter.com/">Wisconsin</a> at Valley Fields just three days before hosting #13 <a href="https://www.casualhoya.com/">Georgetown</a> as well. The back half of the Big East schedule could be very trying for Marquette, as they will host <a href="https://www.bannersontheparkway.com/">Xavier</a> (three points in the balloting) and visit both <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/creighton-bluejays">Creighton</a> (four points) and #9 <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/butler-bulldogs">Butler</a> in a nine day stretch. If the Jays and the X-Men live up to their potential this season, the Golden Eagles could find themselves in desperate search of points in order to secure a top six spot and a berth in the Big East tournament.</p>
<p id="RwKOLb">Women’s soccer’s season has their difficulty tilted towards the non-conference portion of the schedule, but they’re only looking at playing three preseason top 25 teams. However, two of them are in the top six and both of those games will be on the road. Those come at the end of August and beginning of September when MU travels down to Durham to play both #3 <a href="https://www.dukebasketballreport.com/">Duke</a> and #6 <a href="https://www.tarheelblog.com/">North Carolina</a> at the Blue Devils’ facility as part of the Duke Nike Classic. Before that, though, Marquette will host both Wisconsin (three points) and Milwaukee (two points), which will in theory help ramp up the competition level before the Golden Eagles head east. Four days after returning from Tobacco Road, MU will host <a href="https://www.ralphiereport.com/">Colorado</a> (17 points) at Valley Fields, giving them four straight opponents earning votes and five opponents in six matches. Big East action should be relatively quiet, although Butler (one point) kicks things off on September 23rd and the yearly tussle with Georgetown (#22) is always an important one on the docket. Both of those conference matches are at home, which should give the Golden Eagles a little bit of an edge.</p>
<p id="VlNwJI">The women’s team kicks off the 2018 campaign this coming Thursday with a road trip to play <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/cal-poly-slo-mustangs">Cal Poly</a>, with first kick scheduled for 9pm Central time. Louis Bennett and the men’s squad will get started at 4pm on August 26 with a home date against <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/valparaiso-crusaders">Valparaiso</a>.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/marquette-soccer/2018/8/12/17679576/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-womens-soccer-united-soccer-coaches-preseason-pollBrewtown Andy2018-08-10T11:15:01-05:002018-08-10T11:15:01-05:002018 Women’s Soccer Preview: Introducing The Freshmen
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<figcaption>Head coach Markus Roeders coachin’ ‘em up at preseason training. | Facebook.com/MarquetteWSOC</figcaption>
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<p>Markus Roeders added eight players to his roster for 2018, so let’s figure out how they might fit in.</p> <p id="OtLsFD">We kick off our team-focused season preview for <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette</a> women’s soccer with a look at the newcomers on the roster. In this case, we’re looking at eight freshmen: three defenders, two midfielders, and one each in the categories of midfielder/defender, midfielder/forward, and forward. This is the part of the show where I mention my ongoing feud with head coach Markus Roeders and his incredibly weird player categorization system, at least as it applies to his newcomers. His upperclassmen (as we’ll get to next week) have much more clearly defined roles on the roster, but not so much for the first year women. </p>
<p id="3oM0NO">In any case, we’ll split the women up into three groups for our conversation here: defenders (including the M/D), midfielders, and forwards (including the M/F). We’ll start with the defenders because they’re the group that’s least likely to see the pitch in 2018 due to the roster depth in front of them. We’ll get to it next week, but Marquette has seven upperclassmen listed as defenders on the roster and six of them appeared in at least 15 of Marquette’s 21 games in 2017. That’s not going to leave a lot of space for freshmen to carve out a role.</p>
<p id="Y6KSvk">Before we get started, I think it’s worth mentioning that all but one of the freshmen saw action during <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2018/8/6/womens-soccer-wsoc-tops-green-bay-2-0-in-exhibition-opener.aspx">Marquette’s Monday night 2-0 exhibition win over Green Bay</a>, with one (Katrina Wetherell) getting the nod in the starting eleven. Neither Marquette nor Green Bay published a box score from that contest, so it’s unclear as to how many minutes Roeders allocated to his freshmen and thus hard to make a judgment as to who may or may not have an advantage in playing time when the lights go on for real on August 16th. It’s also worth pointing out that all but five field players on the roster got into the game, with one of the five being Kylie Sprecher, who scored three goals and six assists last season, and would otherwise figure in as an important part of the team in 2018.</p>
<p id="zG0NBX">On we go then.....</p>
<h2 id="wEJMPY"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooajlrRFmy0">DEFENDERS</a></h2>
<p id="ZWyCQk">While I think it’s going to be hard for any of these four women to pick up playing time in 2018, <em><strong>Bonnie Lacey </strong></em>seems like the primary candidate to break through. She’s already a semester ahead of her compatriots, having enrolled for spring semester. It’s unclear exactly how much experience she can gain through spring practice with the team, but the added time for Roeders and his staff to evaluate how she fits into the roster is undeniable. It was a pretty major sacrifice for Lacey to join MU at the break, as it meant that she had to give up her senior season at Sheboygan North High School, as girls’ soccer is a spring sport in Wisconsin. She started 61 matches in her three years with the Golden Raiders, tallying 14 goals and 10 assists from the back line. They won a regional championship in her junior season and she was an all-conference performer in each of her three campaigns, twice making it to the First Team. She has experience through the Olympic Development Program, including being named team captain in 2017.</p>
<p id="mhGujL">The other three defending types in the freshmen class all have a connection to one of their fellow newcomers in one of those weird “well, hey, we’re recruiting her, why not her, too” kind of moments. <em><strong>Katie Koker</strong></em> might have had the most unique high school soccer experience out of the entire freshman class, as she only played one year of high school soccer, but she won Wisconsin Division 4 state title that year. She has experience with the Olympic Development Program and helped propel SC Waukesha to four straight state club titles along the way, meaning she got more than her fair share of high level soccer experience even while not playing for her high school. She also got a chance to play with Alyssa Bombacino with Chicago Eclipse, although I’m not 100% sure how that whole “playing with multiple club teams” thing works.</p>
<p id="qJ4qn5"><em><strong>Madeline Warren</strong></em> comes to Marquette from Arizona, where she got a chance to play club soccer with Katrina Wetherell. She played four years of varsity soccer at Xavier College Prep in Phoenix, getting a chance to win a state title as a junior after finishing third in her first two seasons. <em><strong>Madison Burrier</strong></em> is also from out-of-state, attending Jerome High in Dublin, Ohio, which is ostensibly a suburb of Columbus. Burrier is the middie/defender combo in the group, which is kind of fun, because her club teammate Macey Shock is MU’s middie/forward combo player. Jerome won four conference titles during Burrier’s tenure, including when she was team captain in her final two seasons. Those two squads also won district titles, and her senior season ended in the state quarterfinals.</p>
<h2 id="NJIPne">MIDFIELDERS</h2>
<p id="UJbtyv">Since we already mentioned her a moment ago, we’ll start this section off with <em><strong>Katrina Wetherell</strong></em>. In addition to teaming up with Madeline Warren on the Sereno SC club team, the 5’8” Wetherell was a goal scoring machine for Kellis High School in Peoria, Arizona in her final two years of varsity competition. She posted 32 goals and five assists as a junior, followed by 26 strikes and five helpers as a senior. She tended to score goals in bunches as a senior, recording 15 of her goals in five hat tricks. It’s possible that neither of those two campaigns were Wetherell’s best for Kellis, as she picked up a team MVP award as a freshman after recording 18 goals and 11 assists. If she’s got a nose for doing the right thing with the ball, be it scoring or distributing, Wetherell might have a chance of cracking into the slightly less deep midfield rotation. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/profile/8787113/Katrina-Wetherell">There’s a Hudl page with a selection of highlight clips on it</a>, but nothing since February of 2017.</p>
<p id="ysNrtG">MU’s other new midfielder is <em><strong>Sammi Bugay</strong></em>, and yes, that’s the younger sister of redshirt senior Ryley Bugay. <a href="https://gomarquette.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4342"> If her official bio is any indication</a>, it seems that the younger Bugay may fit into the same mold as her older sibling. Most notably: She’s not a scorer. Neither is Ryley, though, who posted her first goal and assist of her Marquette career last season. If Sammi is the same kind of player, then the stockpile of defensive minded players on the field may end up keeping her on the bench for most of 2018.</p>
<h2 id="6lsoK8">FORWARDS</h2>
<p id="NxNYvr">Marquette may not need a lot of additional scoring prowess this season based on who’s on the roster, but if Markus Roeders finds himself looking for a little more pop, expect to hear <em><strong>Alyssa Bombacino</strong></em>’s name called. Her 46 career goals are the third most in her high school’s history, and that kind of production earned her all-conference honors all four years. She was an all-Illinois honoree by Top Drawer Soccer for each of her final two years of high school action, so clearly she knows what she’s doing out there. Personally, I’m kind of hoping she makes a a big impact with some booming goals because all respect intended, that last name is begging for a golazo or seven.</p>
<p id="pOSRaf">Here’s a local news profile package on Bombacino, including a few highlight clips.</p>
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<p id="XYeUeH"><em><strong>Macey Shock</strong></em> is the forward/midfielder combo in the freshman class, and while she and Madison Burrier got a chance to play in ECNL Nationals with Ohio Premier, <a href="https://gomarquette.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4345">her official bio</a> is slightly lacking in scoring information. That’s not a bad thing, per se, but you do like to see a history of goal scoring experience from a forward as they begin their collegiate career. There’s more than one way to make an impact on the pitch, though, and seeing as Shock doesn’t really have any prep career information at all, perhaps she just needs a chance to let her talent speak for itself. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/7269110/Macey-Shock">She has a Hudl page as well</a> with a few clips, but it hasn’t been updated since 2016.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/8/10/17645462/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-preview-freshmen-wetherell-lacey-koker-bombacino-shockBrewtown Andy2018-08-09T19:45:01-05:002018-08-09T19:45:01-05:00Women’s Soccer Picked To Finish 3rd; Madden Named To All-BE Team
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<p>Seems mostly fair.</p> <p id="CUhJJy">With the start of the 2018 season exactly one week away, the Big East launched into action on Thursday afternoon with <a href="http://www.bigeast.com/news/2018/8/9/womens-soccer-georgetown-is-bigeastwsoc-preseason-favorite.aspx">the release of the preseason honors for women’s soccer</a>. YOUR <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> were picked to finish third in the league this season, while redshirt senior forward Carrie Madden is MU’s lone representative on the all-conference squad.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BIGEASTwsoc?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BIGEASTwsoc</a> Poll Alert <br><br>Defending Champs <a href="https://twitter.com/HoyasWSoc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoyasWSoc</a> At The Top <a href="https://t.co/2TJAKhbnGp">pic.twitter.com/2TJAKhbnGp</a></p>— BIG EAST Conference (@BIGEAST) <a href="https://twitter.com/BIGEAST/status/1027622538439024644?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2018</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Preseason All-<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BIGEASTwsoc?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BIGEASTwsoc</a> Honorees <a href="https://t.co/2srnYN2isW">pic.twitter.com/2srnYN2isW</a></p>— BIG EAST Conference (@BIGEAST) <a href="https://twitter.com/BIGEAST/status/1027624655937589248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2018</a>
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<p id="HiLwTc">Madden was a unanimous choice for the all-conference team, one of just three players to earn that distinction. The Illinois native led Marquette in points (19) and goals (7) in 2017, including three game-winners in Big East play. Madden ended up tied for fifth in points in the Big East last year and was one of just 10 women to tally at least seven goals. She was an all-Big East First Teamer last season and earned a nod on the all-conference tournament team as well. </p>
<p id="i6eC8l">Here’s the official rundown for the team voting.</p>
<p id="hSOa1o"><strong>1. Georgetown, 81 points (9 first place votes)</strong><br><strong>2. Butler, 72 (1)</strong><br><strong>3. Marquette, 59</strong><br><strong>4. Providence, 55</strong><br><strong>5. DePaul, 52</strong><br><strong>6. St. John’s, 38</strong><br><strong>7. Xavier, 34</strong><br><strong>8. Villanova, 31</strong><br><strong>9. Creighton, 18</strong><br><strong>10. Seton Hall, 10</strong></p>
<p id="cNVHeD">As the easy voting math will tell you, the Big East coaches are in near perfect lockstep on the top two teams in the league. All nine coaches that aren’t employed by <a href="https://www.casualhoya.com/">Georgetown</a> voted for the Hoyas as the preseason favorite, with Dave Nolan’s vote going to <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/butler-bulldogs">Butler</a>, since he can’t vote for his own squad. That means Butler’s maximum possible point total was 73 (8 second place votes at eight points each + Nolan’s nine points). Since Butler earned 72 points, that means seven of the eight coaches have the Bulldogs in second.</p>
<p id="LDgjL9">It’s a pretty steep drop from Butler to Marquette, particularly when you consider the MU/<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/providence-friars">Providence</a>/<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/depaul-blue-demons">DePaul</a> cluster in the 3-5 spots. Just seven points separate the three teams, so there’s clearly no consensus on who the third best team in the league actually is. With just six spots available in the Big East tournament in late October, Marquette, Providence, and DePaul are going to need to make sure they take care of business against the bottom half of the league in order to clinch a home game in the quarterfinals.</p>
<p id="nDYu2L">One last note: I am impressed that someone voted <a href="https://www.southorangejuice.com/">Seton Hall</a> somewhere other than DFL (1 point for a last place vote, nine voters = 9 points, and they got 10). The Pirates have not won a match since October 9, 2016, giving them a winless streak of 21 straight games which includes 12 shutouts. I feel bad for the team that got voted in last behind the Pirates.</p>
<p id="VozHsp">Let’s move on to the individual player honors.</p>
<p id="RJaBvC"><strong>Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: </strong>Paige Monaghan, Butler <br><strong>Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: </strong>Meaghan Nally, Georgetown <br><strong>Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: </strong>Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown</p>
<p id="QgJxl3">I’m not going to spend a lot of time on these, as Monaghan and Schechtman were the obvious picks (<a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/7/31/17632038/predicting-big-east-womens-soccer-preseason-awards-monaghan-day-schechtman">as seen in our preseason picks article</a>), and picking a top defensive player is a crapshoot when it’s not a senior that won DPOY the year before. I will note that it’s a little unfair to merely slot Nally into Elizabeth Wenger’s spot and pass over Providence’s Katie Day and Butler’s Annika Schmidt merely because Nally wears Hoya gray and blue.</p>
<p id="JZ8IH6">On to the all-league team!</p>
<p id="zeFYk1"><strong>Paige Monaghan, Butler, Sr., F*</strong><br><strong>Annika Schmidt, Butler, R-Jr., D</strong><br><strong>Franny Cerny, DePaul, Sr., F*</strong><br><strong>Amanda Carolan, Georgetown, Sr., F</strong><br><strong>Caitlin Farrell, Georgetown, Sr., F</strong><br><strong>Meaghan Nally, Georgetown, Jr., D</strong><br><strong>Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown, Grad., GK</strong><br><strong>Carrie Madden, Marquette, R-Sr., F*</strong><br><strong>Katie Day, Providence, Sr., D</strong><br><strong>Kayla Steeves, Providence, Sr., M</strong><br><strong>Christina Bellero, St. John’s, Sr., F</strong><br><strong>Samantha Dewey, Xavier, R-Jr., F</strong></p>
<p id="siHUqf">The asterisks mark the three unanimous choices on the 12 player squad (there was a tie in there somewhere, thus explaining why it’s not 11), and I can’t argue with Monaghan, Cerny, or Madden getting votes from all nine coaches that aren’t their own. I can, however, argue with why they’re the only three. Schechtman, Day, Schmidt, and Carolan were all First Team honorees at the end of the 2017 campaign, and you would think that anyone voting for this kind of thing would start their all-league team with them. Quite obviously, that’s not the case, as at least one coach left each of them off the ballot. So weird, especially for Carolan, who finished fourth in the league in points, one spot ahead of Madden.</p>
<p id="ktGQUU">For whatever reason, the Big East coaches went forward-heavy on this squad, naming just one midfielder to the all league team. Rather conveniently for me, the lone midfielder on the team, Providence’s Kayla Steeves, was on <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/7/31/17632038/predicting-big-east-womens-soccer-preseason-awards-monaghan-day-schechtman">my preseason squad</a>, and I even mentioned that I barely ended up excluding Georgetown’s Caitlin Farrell. When the coaches don’t evenly distribute the players by position, I can’t be held responsible for my misses.</p>
<p id="NkxjrM">Marquette starts the 2018 season on Thursday, August 16th, on a trip to the middle of California coastline to play Cal Poly. The Big West hasn’t released their preseason honors quite yet, it seems, but the Mustangs went 7-9-3 last year.</p>
<p id="Fdpzk3">You can read the entire preseason awards press release <a href="http://www.bigeast.com/news/2018/8/9/womens-soccer-georgetown-is-bigeastwsoc-preseason-favorite.aspx">right here</a>.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/8/9/17672156/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-big-east-preseason-awards-honors-carrie-maddenBrewtown Andy2018-07-31T14:30:02-05:002018-07-31T14:30:02-05:00Predicting The 2018 Big East Women’s Soccer Preseason Awards
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<img alt="Marquette women’s soccer" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/z0d3-l-S6pjFuNQJxWWu-Yklt4Q=/175x85:1200x768/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60673145/Carrie_Madden_via_FB.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Carrie Madden is one of two Golden Eagles on my all-Big East squad heading into the 2018 season. | <a class="ql-link" href="http://Facebook.com/MUWomensSoccer" target="_blank">Facebook.com/MUWomensSoccer</a></figcaption>
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<p>Would you believe that the season starts two weeks from Thursday?</p> <p id="94QTk9"><a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/7/30/17571350/big-east-womens-volleyball-preseason-award-predictions-barber-winters-speckman-witt-rosenthal-logan">After knocking down some volleyball predictions on Monday</a>, we turn our attention today to the other fall women’s team sport: SOCCER.</p>
<p id="wZSukg">Enough with the preamble, let’s dig straight into some preseason picks.</p>
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<h3 id="XZkpdq">Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Paige Monaghan, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/butler-bulldogs">Butler</a>
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<p id="kK5p13">I disagreed with Monaghan as the OPOY <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2017/10/25/16536504/predictions-2017-big-east-womens-soccer-postseason-awards-corboz-wenger-schechtman-georgetown">at the end of last season</a> for one very obvious reason: She didn’t have the most points in the league. There was a three-way tie when I made my picks before the season ended, and by the time it was over, my pick (<a href="https://www.casualhoya.com/">Georgetown</a>’s Rachel Corboz) was still in front of Monaghan. In any case, Monaghan is the best returning point getter in the league, recording 26 points on 10 goals and six assists. No one else that’s back in 2018 had more than 22 (<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/depaul-blue-demons">DePaul</a>’s Franny Cerny), so this should be an open and shut vote, especially after Monaghan was a unanimous choice at the end of 2017.</p>
<h3 id="dvpZK2">Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Katie Day, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/providence-friars">Providence</a>
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<p id="SJEyFa">Okay, look. I’m just swinging in the dark here. Last year’s DPOY was Elizabeth Wenger from Georgetown, and she was a senior. She was also the only woman to pick up more than one Defensive Player of the Week award, thus I don’t have any guidance on where else to go here.</p>
<p id="8xp2hX">Katie Day is one of two returning defensive players from last year’s All-Big East First Team. Day also earned two Weekly Honor Roll nods, making her the only returning defensive player to get more than one. She’s also a year ahead of Butler’s Annika Schmidt, and when in doubt, give the award to the senior.</p>
<h3 id="yDpCbB">Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown</h3>
<p id="EA1sXw">And thus, my yearly feud with Dave Nolan and the Hoyas continues. ATTENTION COACH NOLAN AND THE GEORGETOWN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT STAFF: STOP LABELING YOUR PLAYERS ON YOUR ROSTER BASED ON THEIR ACADEMIC STANDING. Last year, Arielle Schechtman was listed as a senior. AND YET, SOMEHOW, she’s back for another season as a graduate student on the roster. Just list her according to her NCAA eligibility year, for crying out loud. Some of us are TRYING to pay attention to your sport and give it all the discussion that we can, and you’re <em>really</em> putting a damper on that by making me do a lot of extra running around to figure out if your players are coming back or not.</p>
<p id="AnV6XA">At least I’m savvy to their tricks at this point and can’t be taken by surprise when Schechtman MIRACULOUSLY shows up on the all-BE team when it’s announced.</p>
<p id="oM7uJc">ANYWAY, Schechtman was the GKOTY at the end of last season, so she’s the easy choice here. Schechtman had the best goals-against average (0.31) out of any regular starting keeper in the league last season, as only Butler part-timer Leonie Doege (0.26) beat her out, but Doege played half as many minutes as her Hoya counterpart. Same goes for save percentage, where both of BU’s netminders were better, but again, Schechtman gets the credit for being the full-time keeper for Georgetown.</p>
<h3 id="uiOdKR">Preseason All-Big East Team</h3>
<p id="YaD0aA">Ryley Bugay, M, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette</a><br>Amanda Carolan, F, Georgetown<br>Franny Cerny, F, DePaul<br>Katie Day, D, Providence<br>Taryn Jakubowski, M, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/creighton-bluejays">Creighton</a><br>Carrie Madden, F, Marquette<br>Paige Monaghan, F, Butler<br>Meghan Nally, D, Georgetown<br>Arielle Schechtman, GK, Georgetown<br>Annika Schmidt, D, Butler<br>Kayla Steeves, M, Providence</p>
<p id="WuIOyU">Monaghan, Day, and Schechtman are all automatics thanks to their individual awards. Cerny, Carolan, Madden, and Schmidt all get in on the back of their All-Big East First Team nods last season, while Steeves and Nally were second teamers and fill in needed spots.</p>
<p id="HsERgk">That gave me four forwards (while leaving out First Team forward Caitlin Farrell, who ended up losing out to Madden on a points per game tiebreaker here) and three defenders, but just one midfielder. I could have gone with more forwards, but I like picking a balanced team for these preseason awards. Thus, I turn to Bugay and Jakubowski, the only returning midfielders who picked up Weekly Honor Roll nods last year. Yes, it’s a very thin explanation, but we’ve got to get to 11 players somehow.</p>
<h3 id="bhJPHq">Top Five Teams</h3>
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<li id="vEDfnZ">Georgetown</li>
<li id="z3cRNg">Butler</li>
<li id="qbBDTX">Marquette</li>
<li id="ls2ugu">Providence</li>
<li id="favav8">DePaul</li>
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<p id="CYOXY7">I mean, the Hoyas have a league high three players on my all-Big East team, and having the best goalkeeper and one of the three best defenders is a pretty strong way to start things out. They seem like the easy choice to win the league again this season, but Butler’s probably going to be right behind them, just like they did last year when they finished one point shy of first place. If the combination of Leonie Doege and Hannah Luedtke can recapture the magic they had in net last season, the Bulldogs are going to be a force to reckon with again. </p>
<p id="mMm1Qa">Marquette went through a few things last year, taking on some quite surprising losses in league play, but if Markus Roeders’ non-conference scheduling tells us anything, it’s that he expects big things from his team this year. Providence will likely be kicking around the top of the table between Day and Shelby Hogan returning in net after a stellar freshman season that earned her a all-conference Second Team spot. That leaves us with DePaul in the five-spot, pretty much because they’re they only team out of the remaining six that I trust to end up in the top half of the league, even though they lost Alexa Ben from last year.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/7/31/17632038/predicting-big-east-womens-soccer-preseason-awards-monaghan-day-schechtmanBrewtown Andy2018-05-16T10:30:02-05:002018-05-16T10:30:02-05:00Women’s Soccer Reveals Full 2018 Schedule
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<img alt="Kylie Sprecher" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MPfNNXslsyhYUc_cctCX7YhlrCY=/107x132:1829x1280/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59752199/Sprecher_via_FB.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kylie Sprecher and the Golden Eagles have some challenges in front of them in 2018. | <a href="http://Facebook.com/MUWomensSoccer">Facebook.com/MUWomensSoccer</a></figcaption>
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<p>We already knew the home games, and the road games make this one doozy of a schedule.</p> <p id="ISi7yT">A couple of weeks back, the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette</a> athletic department <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/4/27/17284334/marquette-golden-eagles-home-schedule-2018-mens-soccer-womens-soccer-volleyball">announced the home dates</a> for the 2018 seasons of women’s soccer, men’s soccer, and volleyball. That was done so the ticket office could start selling season tickets on May 1st, but we still didn’t know the road slates for any of the teams.</p>
<p id="66FZhb">That started changing on Tuesday, when women’s soccer debuted their full 2018 calendar.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The first look at the full fall schedule for the Golden Eagles!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreMarquette?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreMarquette</a><br><br> : <a href="https://t.co/oAJlFrYsbu">https://t.co/oAJlFrYsbu</a><br> ️: <a href="https://t.co/BcwjM6F526">https://t.co/BcwjM6F526</a><br>➡️: <a href="https://t.co/LAVzcG1TkO">https://t.co/LAVzcG1TkO</a> <a href="https://t.co/O1Rv9JkHNJ">pic.twitter.com/O1Rv9JkHNJ</a></p>— MARQUETTE Soccer (@MUWomensSoccer) <a href="https://twitter.com/MUWomensSoccer/status/996477581854724096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2018</a>
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<p id="l3YJYF">Man oh man, I think Markus Roeders thinks he has something special with this iteration of his squad.</p>
<p id="Q1jYTL">The reveal on the home games showed us two contests against teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2017: <a href="https://www.buckys5thquarter.com/">Wisconsin</a> and <a href="https://www.ralphiereport.com/">Colorado</a>. There’s also the game against a <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/wis-milwaukee-panthers">Milwaukee</a> squad that officially went undefeated in 2017 but missed the NCAA tournament because they lost a penalty kick tiebreaker in the Horizon League title game.</p>
<p id="jKYxwZ">The road schedule has taken that deal to a whole extra level. Marquette will be facing <a href="https://www.dukebasketballreport.com/">Duke</a> and <a href="https://www.tarheelblog.com/">North Carolina</a> over the same weekend at the end of August. Both squads were regional #1 seeds in the 2017 NCAA tournament. UNC advanced to the Sweet 16 before getting knocked out, while Duke advanced to the Final Four and was only eliminated on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw with UCLA. Both of those games will be played in Durham, NC, as part of the Duke Nike Classic.</p>
<p id="8nFsQl">That’s four NCAA tournament teams and a fifth that clearly got hosed by the selection committee in MU’s nine match non-conference slate. On top of that, those five matches come as a part of a six match string for the Golden Eagles that also includes a road trip to <a href="https://www.maizenbrew.com/">Michigan</a> (6-6-6 last year).</p>
<p id="iU5DTq">In addition to all of those matches, Marquette will also be visiting <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/cal-poly-slo-mustangs">Cal Poly</a> (7-9-3 last year) to start the season, as well as <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/drake-bulldogs">Drake</a> (13-4-2). That road contest against the Bulldogs might turn into a quality contest for the Golden Eagles, but it’s important to point out that MU beat Drake 3-0 in Milwaukee last season, and that was a MU team that was not good enough to make it to the NCAA tournament.</p>
<p id="ze4zOd">Here’s the full schedule rundown.</p>
<div id="ux5BWB"><div data-anthem-component="table:1067144"></div></div>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/5/16/17360102/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-soccer-2018-schedule-duke-north-carolina-wisconsin-coloradoBrewtown Andy2018-04-27T08:45:02-05:002018-04-27T08:45:02-05:00Marquette Announces 2018 Home Schedules For Soccer & Volleyball
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<img alt="Carrie Madden" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DIjN3vTuAouzuXmQNyuznkGCVX8=/0x0:1200x800/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59541843/Madden_via_FB.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>It seems that Carrie Madden and women’s soccer will be out on the road an awful lot in the fall of 2018. | <a href="http://Facebook.com/MUWomensSoccer">Facebook.com/MUWomensSoccer</a></figcaption>
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<p>Get your calendars ready to set your schedules for this fall.</p> <p id="XpgOZx">The <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Marquette</a> marketing and ticket sales office apparently won some sort of internal argument recently. That’s the only explanation I have for the athletic department announcing the fall 2018 home slates for men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and volleyball on Wednesday instead of announcing each team’s full schedule at other separate days and/or dates.</p>
<p id="SHZUl6">See, by announcing all of the home schedules together, the office can make a big deal about how season tickets are going on sale for all three sports on May 1st. As always, men’s and women’s soccer tickets are sold as one package together, with 21 games sold at a remarkable price point of $45. That comes with the now traditional MU soccer scarf as well. Volleyball is still a solid deal at $40 for 15 matches, where as long as you make it to half of the matches, you’re coming out ahead on the single game tickets.</p>
<p id="6lF0u3">The only drawback to this approach is those of us who are super interested in all three sports don’t get to see the whole schedule yet. As we’ll get to in a minute with each individual team, there’s potentially an awful lot of non-conference action that’s left off for the time being. On top of that, the Big East schedules for each team is clearly set right now, but we’re only seeing one half of it. It’s kind of a bummer in that regard, but hey: the good news from the perspective of this website is that we get an extra blog article out of the whole deal.</p>
<p id="BYH7km">Alrighty then, let’s move on to attacking each team’s schedule and the highlights of what we know so far. We’ll go in chronological order relative to when each team plays their first home match.</p>
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<h1 id="DXeBq0">Women’s Soccer</h1>
<div id="UKSQs4"><div data-anthem-component="table:1039125"></div></div>
<p id="ytkPPW">There’s two things that immediately jump off the page with this schedule for Markus Roeders’ squad. First of all, Marquette will be playing Wisconsin in a regular season contest for the first time since 2004. The Golden Eagles and Badgers have been playing a yearly exhibition contest for the last several years, but that changes this year, as MU will host UW to kick off the home end of the regular season. Instead of the exhibition against the Badgers, Marquette will host Mississippi State for an exhibition as part of the yearly Fan Fest at Valley Fields.</p>
<p id="SsRoS0">The other notable item is the lack of a Marquette Invitational on the docket. This is the first season where MU has not hosted a weekend tournament since 2012. It’s been a regular feature on the schedule, which leads me to two possibilities for the reason for the absence. First: Marquette couldn’t get enough teams interested in making the trip. Second: Marquette’s more interested in building a strong non-conference resume, as the Invitational has largely been about stacking up wins as opposed to bolstering the NCAA tournament profile. After all, the last time that MU went without the home event was the year that the Golden Eagles made a run to the Sweet 16 and fell in penalty kicks to none other than BYU. That team went 18-2-3 overall and was unbeaten in league play. It’s possible that Roeders is looking to challenge his team and make it back to the NCAA tournament after missing out last year.</p>
<p id="wEfcFC">We already know that MU will play two NCAA tourney teams from a year ago in Wisconsin and Colorado. Both the Badgers and the Buffaloes advanced to the Round of 32, so those should be two strong tests again in 2018. BYU is coming off of a 7-8-4 season where they missed the NCAA tournament themselves for the first time since 2011. Odds are they’ll be back in the mix again in 2018, and Milwaukee is probably going to be angry as hell after what happened to them in 2017. The Panthers went 16-0-4, but missed the NCAA tournament. They went to a 0-0 draw with IUPUI in the Horizon League title match after beating the Jaguars 6-0 at Engelmann Stadium two weeks earlier, and IUPUI beat them in penalty kicks, 4-3. That is a lousy way to end the season, and you’d have to figure they’ll be ready and raring to go come August 26th when they make their way to Valley Fields.</p>
<p id="b8PjYI">With just four non-conference games announced right now, it seems likely that MU will play a bunch of road games before Big East play kicks off in late September. Marquette played 10 non-con games last year, so there’s a lot of space left underneath the NCAA’s scheduling limit. It may lead to some less than advantageous travel for the Golden Eagles, as there’s only one weekend before conference action that’s completely free of a game right now. We may see a lot of Marquette pairing home and road games in a weekend in order to get their games in, and that’s not something that we usually see from women’s soccer.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="CHEUCP">
<h1 id="lI0L4c">Men’s Soccer</h1>
<div id="x3wNxI"><div data-anthem-component="table:1039231"></div></div>
<p id="mtaTAx">Last year, Marquette played seven non-conference games and two exhibition matches. So far, MU has five home non-con games and an exhibition match scheduled in 2018. That seems like it’s an awful lot of the potential schedule being squared away right off the bat. The layout of the schedule on a calendar lends itself to that idea as well, as things are pretty crowded over the first month of the season.</p>
<p id="cMM6G2">The Golden Eagles will get two 2017 NCAA tournament teams at home this season in Central Arkansas and Wisconsin. UCA won the Missouri Valley tournament to advance to the national version, but the Bears pulled the upset on #1 seed Missouri State to get there after going 8-10-0 in the regular season and 5-3-0 in conference play. Wisconsin, on the other hand, advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual Final Four squad Akron.</p>
<p id="g0bTLc">The yearly Milwaukee Cup match returns to Valley Fields this season, so mark your calendars for September 19th right now. The Panthers reclaimed the cup in 2017 after MU maintained possession for three straight years for the first time since the late 1990s.</p>
<p id="p6yQ4X">It’s important to note the existence of two double-headers on the schedule. The first is part of the Fan Fest with the MU men hosting Loyola-Chicago in the first game before the women tangle with Mississippi State. The second one is two regular season games on August 26th, the day before fall classes start. The men’s team will play Valparaiso in the first game in what will be their home opener, followed up by what should be an excellent contest between UWM and Marquette over on the women’s side of the aisle.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="Ulsa2w">
<h1 id="cO56bo">Volleyball</h1>
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<p id="r1xq3z">As per usual, head coach Ryan Theis is not messing around, not even in the slightest. The Marquette head coach is well aware of the relative strength of the Big East and is determined to prepare his team every year for the NCAA tournament by challenging them in the non-conference slate. This year is no different, as just the home section of the schedule turns up three teams — USC, BYU, and Wisconsin — that reached the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA tournament. Two more teams landed in the top 100 of the RPI and qualified for the first iteration of a volleyball NIT, which I didn’t realize had happened until I was checking in on Syracuse’s and Illinois State’s records last season. Even Tulsa, who finished under .500 last year, was still a top 150 RPI team, and you can’t ask much more from your non-conference schedule than “only top 150 teams, please.”</p>
<p id="wKclJo">More importantly, perhaps, is that Marquette will play two tournaments in Milwaukee this year. That has been something of a rare occasion under Theis, but again, given MU’s specific circumstances, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. If the Golden Eagles are going to get their best tests by spending most of August and September on the road, then so be it. This year, though, MU will be the host, and you’d like to think that would give them a slight edge against these teams that are clearly postseason hopefuls. </p>
<p id="MRY1Iz">Even with the two home tournaments on consecutive weekends, it does look like Marquette will be out on the road for the first two weekends of the year, and perhaps again in between the final home event and the start of Big East play. That weekend might end up being a road trip in conference play, as that was the case last year. We also know that volleyball will not be at home on the Friday of Homecoming Week this year, thus avoiding the need to cram in a match before Marquette Madness starts.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/4/27/17284334/marquette-golden-eagles-home-schedule-2018-mens-soccer-womens-soccer-volleyballBrewtown Andy