Marquette opens BIG EAST play Sunday against Butler

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's soccer team begins its 14th season of BIG EAST Conference action when it hosts Butler on Sunday, Sept. 23 at Valley Fields.

The match features a 1 p.m. Central time kickoff in Milwaukee and will air live on the BIG EAST Digital Network through FOX Sports Go with Matt Schumacker on the call.

The Golden Eagles (2-6-1) are coming off a 1-0 victory over Milwaukee on Monday evening in which they snapped the Panthers 27-match unbeaten streak that stretched back to the 2016 campaign. Bri Jaeger scored the winner on a header in the 73rd minute and Maddy Henry made six saves in her first shutout win of the year. Marquette also outshot its opponent (14-12) for just the second time this season.

Carrie Madden's two goals scored against Michigan on Aug. 23 still stand as the high points mark for Marquette this season, while freshman midfielder Katrina Wetherell posted her second assist of the year on Jaeger's winning header against Milwaukee.

The Bulldogs (6-3-0) dropped out of the national rankings following a pair of defeats last week in Texas, where they lost 2-0 at Baylor on Sept. 13 and fell, 6-1, at TCU on Sunday, Sept. 16. Prior to those losses, Butler began the year 6-1 with a win over then-No. 20 Notre Dame, 4-1, on Aug. 26 and a narrow 1-0 loss at No. 19 Kansas on Sept. 2.

Returning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year Paige Monaghan leads a potent BU offense that ranks first in the league with 17 goals this season (1.89 per match). She has posted a team-high nine points (two goals, five assists) alongside teammate Anja Savich, who also has nine points along with a team-high four goals.

Marquette is 3-3-1 all-time against Butler, including a 3-0 loss last season in the league lid-lifter in Indianapolis. MU is 2-0 against the Bulldogs at Valley Fields, with the last match a 2-1 overtime win on Oct. 23, 2016. Madden scored the OT winner in that matchup for the 300th head coaching victory of Markus Roeders' career.

The Golden Eagles are 9-4 in BIG EAST openers and are 5-0 when those matches are played at Valley Fields. Through 13 seasons in league play, they are 12-1 in their first BIG EAST home matches of the year with the lone setback being a 4-1 loss to Villanova in 2017.

Following Sunday's contest, the Golden Eagles head east to take on Villanova on Sept. 27 in their lone Thursday road match in conference play this season.

JAEGER LEADS MU IN MINUTES, SCORES MILWAUKEE WINNER
• Redshirt junior center back Bri Jaeger has played big minutes for the Golden Eagles this season, leading the team with 813 played through the first nine matches. While seniors Allison Jacobson and Ryley Bugay have split time next to her at center back, Jaeger has started all nine contests after starting 14 of 17 matches in 2017. Jaeger also chipped in offensively against Milwaukee on Sept. 17 with the winning tally on a header from freshman Katrina Wetherell in the 73rd minute. The goal was the second of the Cedarburg, Wisconsin native's career and came a little over a year after her only other career marker on Sept. 10, 2017 at Rhode Island.

MARQUETTE DOWNS MILWAUKEE FOR SERIES LEAD
• Marquette snapped Milwaukee's 27-match unbeaten streak on Monday, Sept. 17 with a 1-0 victory at Valley Fields in the 27th all-time meeting between the two squads. With the victory, MU moves to 10-9-8 in series history against the Panthers, which includes matchups in all 26 regular seasons of Marquette women's soccer as well as the 2005 NCAA tournament. Marquette claimed that lone NCAA tournament matchup, 1-0, in 2005 at Valley Fields. Entering this year's meeting, MU was 0-2-2 in the last four meetings after going 4-0-1 in the five contests from 2009-13. Marquette's previous victory in the series was a 5-0 win at Milwaukee on Sept. 23, and MU is now 6-5-3 all-time against UWM at Marquette.

STARTING LINEUPS IN FLUX
• Through the first nine matches of the regular season, head coach Markus Roeders has rolled out seven different starting lineups. Upperclassmen Maddy Henry, Bri Jaeger, Emily Hess and Leah Celarek have started all nine matches in their respective roles and have been joined by freshman Katrina Wetherell, who has started every match in the midfield. Roeders has also shuffled freshmen Katie Koker and Madison Burrier into the lineup as the season has progressed. Redshirt senior Heather Handwork made just her second start since her freshman season on Sept. 17 against Milwaukee.

GOLDEN EAGLES AMONG MOST SUCCESSFUL CURRENT BIG EAST TEAMS SINCE 2005
• Since entering the BIG EAST Conference in 2005, Marquette has proven to be among the conference's elite women's soccer programs. The Golden Eagles have accumulated an overall record of 186-77-33 since that time and a mark of 97-26-10 in league action, which includes six regular season conference titles and a pair of tournament championships in 2012 and 2013. MU, which has missed the NCAA tournament just four times since its addition to the league, went a remarkable 39-1-1 in BIG EAST play in the four seasons from 2010-13.

• The Golden Eagles were picked to finish third in the 2018 BIG EAST Conference Coaches' Poll for the third year in a row this season, while forward Carrie Madden earned unanimous All-BIG EAST Preseason Team recognition.