Women's Soccer Plays Two Key Divisional Matches This Weekend

Oct. 11, 2007

MILWAUKEE - It will be a pivotal weekend for the Marquette women's soccer team as it hosts a pair of BIG EAST American Division foes for its last two home matches for the regular season at Valley Fields. The Golden Eagles will take on St. John's on Friday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m., and Syracuse on Sunday, Oct. 14, at Noon.

Sunday's game against the Orange will be broadcast live on Time Warner Sports Ch. 32 with Matt Menzel and former Marquette men's soccer player Sean Reti calling all the action from The Valley.

"Considering it is our last regular season 'home' weekend, the team is excited to be at Valley Fields," said head coach Markus Roeders. "St. John's and Syracuse both have done well this season and we expect two very well prepared squads. The race for points within the BIG EAST divisions is extremely close. Again, we have to be prepared for a tough battle."

Friday night's game will be extra special as the program will honor the careers of its nine seniors; Laura Boyer, Julia Egasti, Emily Fitzpatrick, Allison Mallams, Michelle Martin, Shaina Mango, Christy Smith, Aubrey Trembly and Christy Zwolski.

"These young ladies mean so much and represent everything we talk about with our program. They are all fantastic individuals and we are very proud of their accomplishments. We don't measure them in wins and loses rather who they are, how they have grown at Marquette University and how they have influenced our program. We hope that our fans will come out to cheer them on on their special night," Roeders said.

The Golden Eagles (10-2-1, 3-2-0 BIG EAST) currently sit in a tie with St. John's for third place in the American Division with nine points Marquette will have a tough road ahead as it will play the remainder of the regular season away from the friendly confines of Valley Fields at Louisville (Oct. 19), at Cincinnati (Oct. 21) at Pittsburgh (Oct. 26) and at West Virginia (Oct. 28).

This weekend, Marquette will be looking to rebound from a 3-1 loss to Georgetown last Sunday (Oct. 7). Freshman Ashley Bares scored the Golden Eagles lone goal in that contest pushing her season total to conference leading eight goals.

St. John's (8-2-2, 3-2-0) is also coming off a set back in the form of a 3-0 shut out at Notre Dame. Prior to that the Redstorm won consecutive BIG EAST matches over Pittsburgh (4-1) and DePaul (1-0).

Krystle Jalalian leads the Redstorm with 12 points on five goals and two assists, while Kelly McConnell and Raelynne Lee each have 10 points (4g, 2a). In goal for St. John's, Jamie Bernan and Rebecca Capinera have split time as Bernan has spent 535 minutes in goal and Capinera just over 591 minutes. Beran owns a 0.67 goals against average and has allowed four goals, while Capinera has given up six goals with a 0.91 gaa.

"St. John's has had much success and their record is indicative of the quality players they build around. We have to play a complete 90 minutes to get a result," said Roeders.

Marquette is 1-0 all-time against the Redstorm. The two teams first and only meeting was last season. The Golden Eagles came away victorious, 2-1.

Syracuse (5-5-3, 1-3-1) enters the weekend with Marquette with one conference win in its last four tries. The Orange is tied with USF for the final postseason position currently with four points. The two teams will square off on Friday prior to Syracuse visiting Milwaukee.

Jen Taormina has sparked Syracuse with 13 points on six goals and one assist. Eliza Bennett-Hatten has played all 1227:38 minutes in net for the Orange. She has four shutouts and a goals against average of 1.25.

"Syracuse is a dangerous team who has had some very good results on the road. They are tough to play against and it took us until overtime a year ago to win the game," said Roeders.

Marquette owns a 2-0 advantage over the Orange in a series that commenced in 2005. Both of MU's wins came in overtime.