It’s tough to question a team that has lost once in its first eight games (7-1-0), while outscoring opponents 22-5. Is the Marquette women’s soccer team prepared both mentally and physically to enter the grueling 11-game Big East portion of its schedule?
“We have some things to take care of, but that is just going to come with some more time,” junior defender Megan Jaskowiak said. “But we had a really good nonconference part of the season so hopefully we can keep that going throughout the Big East.”
The No. 8/9 Golden Eagles host the Pittsburgh Panthers (1-5-2) in their Big East opener tonight, a team they defeated 2-1 on the road to open the conference slate last year.
“I think the team is very well-rounded considering we’ve had a loss, and we’ve had a comeback win this past weekend,” sophomore forward Maegan Kelly said.
Marquette’s only setback came at the hands of then-No. 7/10 Florida State, 3-1. Beyond that, it has picked up impressive nonconference victories over Long Beach State, then-No. 14 Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Indiana, with the latter two coming on the road.
Now, however, thoughts of repeating last year’s perfect conference mark 11-0-0 in conference play are far back in the mind of the Golden Eagles.
“The Big East is a really hard conference, so it’s tough to say where we’ll finish,” Jaskowiak said. “If we play our game, we should be OK.”
The team can’t afford to look ahead to crucial matchups at West Virginia (4-3-0) this Sunday and Notre Dame (3-3-1), the defending national champion, at home on Sept. 25, without first taking care of business against Pittsburgh.
The Panthers’ only win this season came on Aug. 28 against Delaware in the second game of the James Madison Tournament, and they have not scored a goal since a 2-2 draw against Colorado College on Sept. 2, a span of four games.
Pittsburgh has been outscored 20-5 this season, with four of those goals coming from junior forward Ashley Cuba. If Marquette’s backline can contain Cuba and the Panthers, it will head to Morgantown, W.V., with a chip on its shoulder.
The Mountaineers were picked to finish first in the American Division of the Big East by the media despite the Golden Eagles’ perfect mark in conference play last season.
“Playing both West Virginia and Notre Dame is difficult no matter when you play them because they’re both quality teams” Jaskowiak said.
Despite West Virginia’s three losses, it may provide Marquette with its biggest road test of the season and could determine whether the Golden Eagles win its division for the third consecutive season.
In addition to the West Virginia and Notre Dame contests, road games against Cincinnati (4-2-2) on Oct. 2 and St. John’s (4-2-1) on Oct. 14 should go a long way in determining whether Marquette earns a first-round bye and gets to play at home in the quarterfinals of the Big East Championship Tournament.
“I think the returning players know that the season is a marathon, so we need to take care of business at home,” coach Markus Roeders said. “A quarterfinal match (in the Big East Championship Tournament) at home would be awesome.
“We know that there are no easy games in our conference,” Roeders said. “We have to take care of business against Pittsburgh (tonight) before we can worry about the next game.”
