Marquette women’s soccer will hit the East Coast this weekend for a road swing that could make or break the season.
On one hand, a sweep of 1-7-2 Seton Hall and 9-1 St. John’s would solidify Marquette’s place as a BIG EAST powerhouse this season and shoot them up the RPI rankings. If the Golden Eagles lose to Seton Hall, or both of those matches, their RPI could take a hit.
“I think we have a lot to prove to ourselves this weekend,” head coach Markus Roeders said.
He isn’t satisfied going in to the road trip, even after the team’s five-goal performance in its BIG EAST opening win over Creighton on Sunday.
“Our main focus has to be what we’re doing on the offensive and defensive side and how we’re taking care of the little things,” Roeders said.
That simple approach might be enough to get things done against a Seton Hall side tonight in South Orange, New Jersey. The Pirates come in scoring six goals through 10 matches, while allowing a league-worst 23 goals.
Sunday will be a different story for the Golden Eagles, when they take on an experienced St. John’s squad. The Red Storm are riding a five-match winning streak and are led by Preseason BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Year Rachel Daly, who leads the league with nine goals and has 22 points on the season.
“They’re definitely a team that’s going to compete for a BIG EAST championship,” Roeders said. “If that’s one of our goals, which it definitely is, we have to measure ourselves against a team like that.”
Roeders called upon his forwards, particularly redshirt junior Darian Powell and redshirt freshman Emily Mouille to keep the offense rolling this weekend. That will certainly be a challenge against St. John’s, who has allowed four goals through 10 matches, which ranks tied for third in Division I.
“We hope to just keep getting the ball from the outside into the box so that we have more opportunities to finish,” Powell said. “We’ve been working a lot on breaking down the back line so we can have more through balls.”
“I think it’s a mix of us building our attack and taking care of our set plays,” Roeders added. “Against St. John’s, you’re only going to get so many chances and you’ve got to make them count.”
The Golden Eagles will welcome back four forwards to the attack – redshirt sophomore Molly Pfeiffer, junior Erin Holland, junior Liz Bartels and junior Meegan Johnston – who served a coach’s suspension against Creighton.
If Marquette needs another motivating factor heading into the road swing, the Golden Eagles can remember they’ve never lost to either of their opponents. They’re 4-0-1 versus the Pirates and 10-0-1 against the Red Storm.
