As conference play begins, “full circle” is the phrase on the minds of the Marquette women’s soccer seniors.
This circle begins and ends with a BIG EAST title and a NCAA tournament birth.
“All of the seniors, we’ve come so far with each other,” senior Morgan Proffitt said. “It would be really cool to finish it out with a BIG EAST title and make it come full circle.”
In 2013, Marquette went 9-0-0 in the BIG EAST on their way to a regular season conference crown and knocked off Butler and DePaul to win the conference tournament. That was the Golden Eagles’ most recent triumph in the BIG EAST.
“That was a great group,” head coach Markus Roeders said. “We saw a little bit of what we’ve lost after they left with the vacuum that we had with trying to rebuild with the group the following year.”
Proffitt emphasized the leadership strength on the 2013 team, a side featuring eight seniors.
“The seniors brought a lot of energy that as freshmen we just soaked in,” Proffitt said. “We just fed off of that and really bought into the idea of winning. They were used to winning the BIG EAST so it was an expectation as well.”
As a freshman, Proffitt earned a place on the All-BIG EAST second team, taking cues from senior centerback Emily Jacobson.
“Having Emily Jacobson, specifically, right behind me defensively, that was a really big part for me,” Proffitt said. “She always told me where to be, where to go and really guided me on how to be the best player I could be.”
Liz Bartels said some of her best memories in her four years at Marquette came from her freshman season. As a senior, she has a different perspective on her team’s early accomplishments. One game in particular took time to appreciate – a 4-0 win at home against No. 8 Georgetown.
“Going into the game, I didn’t realize how big of a game it was,” Bartels said. “We won 4-0 so it just seemed like it was normal.”
Bartels also heaped praise upon the 2013 squad’s leadership.
“I feel like they just had their goals in mind, like we’re going to do anything to get there and we’re going to bring freshmen and sophomores along,” Bartels said. “We accomplished a lot because they were so goal-oriented.”
One obvious parallel between the 2013 group and this year’s group is the goals they share.
“It is my last season, so I don’t think any of the seniors want anything less than the best,” Bartels said.
Bartels and Proffitt, along with senior Ashley Handwork, were big contributors in 2013. Those three made appearances in all 22 games.
Handwork said this year’s seniors try to lead in the same way the 2013 leaders did.
“All of our seniors have had an important role in (leadership), just letting people know how we’re going to do things and guiding the younger players as we go through each game,” Handwork said.
Bartels echoed Handwork’s leadership goals.
“We kind of had that experience the last few years to help the team along because we were used to it,” Bartels said.
Despite a slower start to this season than in 2013, there is no doubt about this season’s possibilities.
“I believe we have the talent to beat almost any team out there,” Proffitt said. “If we have that mindset to do well and play to our best abilities we can really beat anyone in the country.”
The time for talk is coming to an end. BIG EAST play is underway and we’ll know in a month whether or not the Golden Eagles have accomplished their goals.
“The 10 seniors that we have now – to get them to come full circle and accomplish some of the things that they did in 2013 – that would be awesome for this group,” Roeders said. “I think they’re working towards that right now.”
