Marquette Continues Homestand with Milwaukee Cup

Aug. 28, 2008

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's soccer team hosts Ohio State and Samford this weekend at Valley Fields for games two and three of its five-match homestand. The Golden Eagles collide with Ohio State (0-1-0) on Friday, Aug. 29 at 3:30 p.m., and take on Samford at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. The games are a part of the ninth-annual Milwaukee Cup.

Friday's afternoon matinee game between the Golden Ealges and Buckeyes is the first Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night. Marquette faculty and staff admission is $2. It is also "Bang for Your Buck Day" where hot dogs, sodas and chips are only $1.

"Our team is looking forward to the Milwaukee Cup Tournament. We have two quality teams coming to Valley Fields, as both went to the NCAA tournament in 2007. Ohio State is talented and has great depth. They will be determined after their narrow season-opening loss on Wednesday night," said head coach Markus Roeders. "Samford might be an unknown in our area, but it has had much success on the field throughout the years. They are very well coached and we expect an excellent team."

The Golden Eagles (1-0-0) are coming off a 1-0 victory in their season opener over Loyola (Ill.). Junior Kelly Wepking scored Marquette's lone goal. Junior Chelsey Turner and redshirt freshman Natalie Kulla each saw 45 minutes of action in net and both recorded two saves. Roeders said the team learned from its first win of the season and is ready to move forward.

"We have learned from our win over Loyola and hopefully we see improvement in our play this weekend. Small details can be deciding factors in any game and we addressed several throughout practice this week. We are excited to get back out on the field."

The Buckeyes (0-1-0) come to Valley Fields following a 4-3 loss at Wis.-Milwaukee on Wednesday night. The Panthers' Nicole Sperl converted a penalty kick with 91 seconds left in the game to the give Milwaukee the 4-3 victory at Engelmann Field. The Buckeyes led 3-1 before Milwaukee's comeback. Ashley Bowyeri, Genna Brand and Paige Maxwell each scored goals for Ohio State.

Ohio State and Marquette will play for only the fourth time in program history, with the series tied 1-1-1. The Buckeyes won, 2-0, in 1993 in Columbus; Marquette won, 2-0, in 2002 in Dayton and the teams tied in 1994 (2-2).

Ohio State returns six of 11 starters from the 2007 NCAA tournament team, including goalkeeper Lauren Robertson, forward Lisa Collison, midfielders Alex Burzynsk and Ashley Bowyeri, and defenders Courtney Jenkins and Lauren Steuer.

Samford (0-1-0) heads into Friday's game looking to rebound from last week's 4-0 season-opening loss to No. 8 Texas. The Bulldogs, who have played in two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, return nine starters from the 2007 squad that won a school record 15 games in 2007. Samford has won four of the last five Ohio Valley Conference titles, but was picked to finish fourth in the league standings this season. The fourth-place prediction marked the first time since 2003 the Bulldogs were not picked to win the OVC crown. Samford will play Milwaukee on Friday at Englemann Field before its game against Marquette.

Sunday's game will be the first meeting between the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles.