Marquette women’s soccer welcomes two Big East opponents to Valley Fields this weekend as it looks to tally two more wins and stay unbeaten in Big East play.
The Cincinnati Bearcats (8-6-1 overall, 2-5-0 Big East) come knocking Friday night at 7 p.m. followed by the Louisville Cardinals (9-6-0 overall, 3-4-0 Big East) Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Golden Eagles finally return home after a stretch of five road games including last weekend’s big 1-0 win against Connecticut and 2-1 double overtime win over Providence.
A win this Friday would not only push Marquette’s record to 8-0 in conference play, but also allow the team to clinch at least second place in the American Division and host a home quarterfinal game in the Big East tournament.
The Golden Eagles will also be raising awareness for breast cancer Friday night. Fans will not be charged admission but will be encouraged to donate money in support of the cause. The players will sport pink jerseys which will be auctioned off online in order to generate more funds for cancer awareness.
Cincinnati has won two of its last four games including a 3-2 double overtime win against Villanova. They have proven to be no slouch in the conference this year and will be another tough test for the Marquette women.
“Cincinnati is a really aggressive, competitive team so that will be a very important game,” senior defender Stephanie Vasos said.
Louisville is coming off a 3-1 loss to Georgetown in its regular season home finale and is looking to rebound with a road win after winning only one of its last four games.
“Louisville has had a pretty exciting season so far and we’re hoping to get a read of what they’re like this weekend,” senior midfielder Rosie Malone-Povolny said.
The Golden Eagles will look to scoring leaders Maegan Kelly, Ashley Bares and Rachael Sloan to come up big this weekend to maintain their status as the top team in the division. Kelly has netted five goals and Bares and Sloan have each scored four.
Junior goalie Natalie Kulla will also look to continue her dominance in net to give Marquette wins in both games. She has posted an .808 save percentage and has made 21 saves in Big East play.
Marquette has also outshot its opponents 110 to 59 in conference play and outscored them 14 to 5.
Coach Markus Roeders is looking forward to finally returning home to Valley Fields and is confident that his team will close out conference play with excellence in this final four game home stand.
“We’ve been extremely focused and managed difficult situations on the road,” Roeders said. “We are 6-0 on the road and that really speaks volumes about our squad. We’ve been able to win each game and each game has given us different scenarios. We’ve won late, we’ve played with the lead and we’ve had to come back.”
The Golden Eagles have no doubt established themselves as the team to beat in the American Division and will look for the support of their fans this weekend to finish strong heading into the conference tournament.
