Marquette University Athletics
Women's Soccer Faces Two Tough Road Tests
9/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Women's soccer release in .pdf form
California Here We Come...
Santa Clara adidas Classic provides tough competition for Marquette
Last Sunday?s loss at DePaul marked the beginning of five straight games on the road for the Golden Eagles. Marquette is set to travel to Santa Clara, Calif. for the Santa Clara adidas Classic on Friday and Sunday. Marquette will then travel to the Tar Heel state for games at Charlotte (Oct. 1) and East Carolina (Oct. 3).
Scouting Santa Clara
The No. 15 Broncos enter Friday?s game riding a three-match winning streak following two wins at the Stanford Nike Classic. The Broncos defeated (19) Yale, 2-0 on Sept. 17 and came back Sunday to defeat Cal State-Fullerton 1-0. Santa Clara?s overall record is 4-2-1. The Broncos are currently outshooting their opponents 99-56 and have outscored opponents 9-0 in the last three matches. They are led in scoring by Leslie Osborne who has five goals and one assist on the year. Tina Estrada and Megan Kakadelas each have three goals and two assists on the year. Alyssa Sobolik and Julie Ryder have split goalkeeping duties with Sobolik recording 10 saves in 290 minutes played and Ryder tabbing 14 saves in 380 minutes.
Scouting Stanford
The No. 20 Cardinal have a 5-2 record and play Friday against Denver before facing the Golden Eagles on Sunday. Stanford is riding a four-match winning streak entering its game against Denver with a win over (19) Yale on Sept. 19 highlighting the streak. Marcie Ward leads the scoring attack for the Cardinal with four goals and one assist. Nicole Barnhart is the starting goalkeeper for the Broncos and has 22 saves and only three goals allowed on the season.
Marquette Versus the Best
Marquette will play back-to-back games against ranked opponents for the third time in school history. Marquette is 2-2 in those games, winning against (15) Duke in 2002 (second game of double-header) and (21) Missouri in 1999 in the NCAA Tournament (first game of double header). Marquette has played teams ranked in the top 15 in five of the last six seasons.
Sign Of Good Things To Come
Marquette and Santa Clara last met on Oct. 10, 1999. Santa Clara was ranked No. 1 in the country at the time and Marquette dropped a 1-0 decision in California. Following that loss, Marquette ended its season winning nine of eleven games en route to a Conference USA Championship and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Soccer ?State? of Mind
Marquette was victorious in the first two of three matches against a state of Wisconsin opponent with a 1-0 win against Wis.-Milwaukee on Sept. 8 and, most recently, a 4-1 win over Wis.-Green Bay. Marquette hopes to continue that winning trend against state of Wisconsin opponents on Oct. 27 when Marquette faces Wisconsin. Marquette currently holds a 16-10-4 record all-time against all three NCAA Div. I teams from the state of Wisconsin. Marquette last earned the state of Wisconsin sweep in 2001 when it defeated all three NCAA Div. I teams.
Shots, Shots and More Shots
Marquette is currently outshooting its opponent 131-54 and averaging 18.71 shots per match. In addition, 57 of Marquette?s shots have been on goal. The Golden Eagles set a school record for shots in a game with 45 shots against South Dakota State. The previous record was 43 shots set on Sept. 24, 1993 against Oral Roberts. Of the 45 shots Marquette took, 26 came in the first half and 21 were shots on goal. Twenty of the 26 Marquette players who have seen action have fired a shot this season. Marquette currently ranks second in Conference USA in shots per game behind only Louisville.
Frequent Flyer Miles
Marquette will be earning its fair share of frequent flyer miles this week as it will travel to California for just the second time in the team?s history. The Golden Eagles will travel 2,452 miles to Santa Clara, Calif. for games against Santa Clara (Sept. 24) and Stanford (Sept. 26). Marquette?s first trip to California was in 1999 when they played at Santa Clara.
Early Season Honors
Three Golden Eagles were named to the Milwaukee Cup All-Tournament Team. Julie Thompson, Meghan Connelly and Lindsay Michuda all earned honors from the weekend tournament. Thompson played all 180 minutes of the two games in the midfield for Marquette, Connelly recorded a team-high seven shots in the win over South Dakota State.
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