Women's Soccer Opens Four-Game Homestand This Weekend

Oct. 19, 1999

MILWAUKEE -

THE WEEK AHEAD Markus Roeders? Marquette women?s soccer team (8-6-2, 5-2-1) starts the stretch drive this weekend when it opens a regular-season-ending, four-game homestand at Valley Fields. The Golden Eagles host Tulane on Fri., Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., before welcoming Southern Miss to Milwaukee on Sun., Oct. 24, at 1 p.m. The latter contest will mark the first appearance by the ?other? Golden Eagles in Milwaukee.

The Golden Eagles are looking to wrap up one of the top seeds in the Conference USA Tournament, with three of their remaining four games against C-USA teams below them in the standings.

LAST WEEK Marquette opened a big weekend of C-USA match-ups with a 1-0 loss at UNC Charlotte on Fri., Oct. 15. After the lackluster performance against the 49ers, however, the Golden Eagles used a flurry of second-half scores to down South Florida 5-0 on Sun., Oct. 17, in Tampa. Senior Erin Morgan (Stevens Points, Wis. / Stevens Point Area) opened the flood gates for Marquette in Tampa with her second game-winning goal of the season early in the second half. Mo Bothwell (Carmel, Ind. / carmel) made seven saves and teamed with freshman Ashleigh Koenig (Naperville, Ill. / Central) to register Marquette?s fifth shutout of the season. The five goals was the most scored upon South Florida since Nov. 4, 1997, and tied a record for the second-most goals ever allowed by a Bulls team. The win also closed Marquette?s six-game road swing, on which the Golden Eagles went 4-2.

A LOOK AT TULANE After opening the season on a tear by winning their first five games, the Green Wave have struggled since conference play opened and enter this week with an 8-7 overall mark and a 1-6 C-USA record. However, they do feature one of the league?s top scorers, freshman striker Colleen Lake, who has 23 points on eight goals and seven assists. Goalkeeper Jaclyn Urso also is dependable, having played all 1,364 minutes and recording five shutouts, 54 saves and a 1.71 goals against average (GAA). Eliot Perkins is in his first season with Tulane and as a head coach. Marquette has never lost to Tulane, owning a 3-0-0 lead in the all-time series. The Golden Eagles prevailed 2-1 in New Orleans last season.

A LOOK AT SOUTHERN MISS The southern Golden Eagles are in their third season of Division I competition under head coach John Vincent, who is 24-19-3 (.554) in Hattiesburg. This season, Southern Miss is 6-7-1 overall and 2-5-1 in C-USA after tying Cincinnati 1-1 and defeating Louisville 3-1 at home this past weekend. Freshman Leila McReynolds and junior Stacey Hall lead the Golden Eagles, and are ranked among the league leaders, with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Keepers Bronagh Gallagher and Hope Herron have split time between the pipes for the Eagles, together collecting 67 saves to go with three shutouts and a 1.39 goals against average (GAA). In the teams? first-ever meeting last season, Marquette shut-out Southern Miss 1-0 in Hattiesburg. Southern Miss plays DePaul in Chicago on Fri., Oct. 22, before arriving in Milwaukee.

HEAD COACH MARKUS ROEDERS Markus Roeders has a 53-19-9 (.710) record in his fourth season as head coach at Marquette. He led the Golden Eagles to back-to-back C-USA regular-season championships in 1996-97 and has guided the Golden Eagles to three consecutive trips to the C-USA Tournament championship game. Effective Sept. 1, he started a three-year term as a member of the NCAA Division I Women?s Soccer Committee. A 1990 graduate of UNC Asheville, Roeders earned the 1996 C-USA Coach of the Year Award. Prior to taking over the reigns of the women?s program, Roeders served for two years as assistant coach for the Marquette men?s team under his collegiate coach Steve Adlard. Roeders played his final two seasons at UNC Asheville and was team captain as a senior. He is assisted by Frank Pelaez and Dan Holcomb.

IN THE POLLS One Marquette opponent was ranked in the national polls this week: Santa Clara is ranked #1 by both Soccer America and the NSCAA.

Marquette fell to #9 in this week?s NSCAA Great Lakes Region Rankings. Other NSCAA regional rankings: Saint Louis is #7 in the Central, Illinois is #6, Wisconsin tied for #7 and UW-Milwaukee #10 in the Great Lakes, UNC Charlotte is #8 in the Southeast, and Santa Clara is #1 in the West.

POINT FORWARD Morgan?s game-winning goal at South Florida not only sparked a five-goal second half for Marquette, but placed the senior striker in a tie for third on the Marquette all-time scoring list. Morgan is deadlocked with former teammate Regina Sekyra (1994-97) at 60 career points. She is now third all-time with 22 goals scored and is in fourth place all-time with 16 assists. This season, Morgan is second on the team with 15 points and six goals. The 5-1 striker tallied her second game-winner of the season in the 50th minute at South Florida, converting an Anna Frisk pass for the decisive tally.

INSTANT OFFENSE Tallying her fourth goal of the season against the Bulls was junior striker Katherine Ward (Trumbull, Conn. / Trumbull). She has 14 points on four goals and six assists this season. She is now fifth with 16 career goals on the all-time Marquette goals scored list. After providing the offensive punch off the bench last season, Ward has gotten the starting call in 15 of the 16 games in which she has played in 1999.

RAY OF LIGHT Kelly Roethe (Wauwatosa, Wis. / DSHA) kept pace with the C-USA scoring leaders by netting her eighth goal of the season at South Florida. Marquette and C-USA?s all-time leading scorer and the Preseason C-USA Player of the Year, Roethe leads Marquette with 21 points on eight goals and five assists. She also has two game-winning goals this season. The senior co-captain now has 111 career points on 44 goals and 23 assists. She is Marquette?s all-time leader in points and goals, and is second all-time in assists.

FRESHMAN FLASH Striker Kate Gordon (Sioux City, Iowa / North) continued her bid for C-USA All-Freshmen honors by leading the Golden Eagles with three points against South Florida. The 5-5 freshman collected an assist on Roethe?s goal and then netted her fifth goal of the season in the game?s 86th minute. Gordon leads all MU freshmen, and is fourth on the team, with 12 points on five goals and two assists.

SPAK FACTS A week after earning the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award, freshman Ashley Spakowitz (Hartland, Wis. / Arrowhead) continued her strong second half of the season with the final goal of the game in Tampa. The 5-8 striker intercepted a clearing pass and scored off a one-on-one with the Bulls keeper. Spakowitz is making her own push for a spot on the C-USA All-Freshmen team with seven points on three goals and one assist.

ONE MO? TIME Bothwell earned her fourth shutout of the season by making seven stops of South Florida shots in Marquette?s 5-0 victory in Tampa. She also performed admirably against UNC Charlotte, suffering the 1-0 loss, but making five saves. On the season, the Preseason All-C-USA pick is 8-6-2 with a 1.24 GAA and 67 saves.

ONE-TIMERS Sophomore Stephanie Welch (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington) came off the bench to record assists on the Ward and Gordon goals at South Florida ? the versatile Welch now has six points on the season ? classmate Anna Frisk (Rochester, N.Y. / Greece Athena) registered an assist on Morgan?s game-winning goal for her fourth point of the year ? she has started 14 of the 16 games in which she has played this season ? one of six Golden Eagles to start all 16 games this season, Heather O?Neil (Shoreview, Minn. / Totino-Grace) tallied her second point of the season on Roethe?s goal ? senior co-captain Lanette Rossini (Roseville, Minn. / Totino-Grace) also has started all 16 contests and tallied an assist against the Bulls ? her helper on Gordon?s goal gives her 12 points on the season ? Koenig made her fifth appearance of the season and earned her second shared shutout, logging ten minutes of action to close out the win.

C-USA LEADERS Several Golden Eagles rank among the C-USA statistical leaders this week. Roethe is tied for third with eight goals and 21 points, tied for fifth with five assists and is tied for eighth with 33 shots. Morgan is tied for ninth with 15 points, Ward is tied for third with six assists. Bothwell is tied for third with 67 saves, is fifth with four shutouts, and is sixth with a 1.24 GAA.

Among the team leaders, Marquette is second in scoring (94 points), goals (31), assists (32) and shots (197). Defensively, the Golden Eagles are fourth with a 1.29 GAA, tied for third with four shutouts and seventh with 56 saves.

MARQUETTE SOCCER ON THE NET The Marquette women?s soccer website contains all of the most recent information on the Golden Eagles. Weekly media releases, current statistics and results, Conference USA standings and game stories and reviews can be found at: www.gomarquette.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact Marquette assistant sports information director Josh Sutter at (414) 288-6980 or at: joshua.sutter@marquette.edu