Marquette earned a No. 4 seed and will host Illinois State (13-4-2) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday night at Valley Fields.
The Redbirds won the Missouri Valley conference, going 4-2 in the regular season and beating Indiana State 5-1 to win the title. Illinois State won at Toledo and drew with No. 19 Illinois.
If the Golden Eagles win, they will play either Princeton or long-time Big East rival West Virginia in the second round, likely in Provo, Utah, on the campus of BYU, who is the No. 1 seed in Marquette’s bracket.
The Golden Eagles finished the regular season 16-2-2 including a 1-0 win over Georgetown to claim their first-ever Big East Tournament championship.
Marquette was 9-0-1 in Big East play and clinched its fourth straight American Division title with a 3-0 win over St. John’s on Oct. 12.
Junior forward Maegan Kelly and junior midfielder Taylor Madigan each scored eight goals and freshman goalkeeper Amanda Engel recorded six shutouts and is 12-0-1 in goal this season.
