Women’s soccer hosts Villanova on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Weekly Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's soccer team looks to secure another three points in the BIG EAST standings on Sunday when it welcomes Villanova to Valley Fields at 1 p.m. Central time.

The match will air live on GoMarquette.com and will be produced by the Marquette Wire, MU's student-run media organization. John Steppe and Jackson Gross will handle the call from the Menomonee River Valley.

The Golden Eagles will wear pink jerseys in support of the fight against breast cancer and all fans wearing pink will receive free admission to the match. Fans can also donate to the HEADstrong Foundation through the BIG EAST Conference SAAC chapter at the game or by clicking here.

Marquette is 8-2 all-time against Villanova but has lost each of the last two meetings after a run of eight consecutive victories to begin the series after MU joined the BIG EAST. A MU win would be its 100th in BIG EAST play.

Following Sunday's contest, Marquette hosts its final regular season home game on Thursday, Oct. 24 against Xavier. MU will honor seniors Maddy Henry and Emily Hess along with graduate students Bri Jaeger and Natalie Yass prior to the match against the Musketeers.

MARQUETTE (5-8-1): The Golden Eagles picked up six points in the BIG EAST standings last weekend at St. John's (3-2 (2OT)) and Seton Hall (5-0) … MU doubled its season scoring output in the final 130:20 against the Red Storm and Pirates following Alex Campana's 61th minute goal at SJU … Alyssa Bombacino recorded MU's first hat trick since 2012 against the Seton Hall and MU notched its third shutout of the year … MU has scored in six of its last seven matches after beginning the season with just three goals in its first seven games … Five of its first seven games overall were decided 1-0 … MU earned its first win of the season on Sept. 1, courtesy of Kylie Sprecher's 108th minute goal in double overtime … Sprecher's score was MU's first goal of the year, ending a stretch of 379:36 to start the year without a tally.

VILLANOVA (7-4-3): The Wildcats, who were picked to finish sixth in the BIG EAST, currently sit in a tie for second in the league with 10 points … VU owns BIG EAST wins over Xavier, Seton Hall and DePaul and a 1-1 draw at Butler … Villanova began the season with a 1-0 victory over then-No. 24 LSU … Brice McInroy leads the Wildcats with five goals and is tied for the team lead in points (11) with Chloe O'Neill (3 goals, 5 assists) … Villanova's two wins all-time against MU have come in the last two years, a 4-1 win in Milwaukee in 2017 and a 3-2 triumph at home last season.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:
Graduate student Natalie Yass: "I think we're feeling pretty confident, good about where we are at and where we're headed. Keeping the same lineup will be nice with the consistency aspect of it. Definitely (we need to) keep the attacking mindset. During the beginning of the season we had the mindset of getting the shutout, and being super solid defensively, and now I think we are going more towards the attacking side of it. I feel very comfortable playing next to Maddie Monticello so that's a nice little combination we've had there. But I think everyone on the field is sort of getting their footing even if they are a freshman."

Head coach Markus Roeders "This last weekend was a big weekend, especially being on the road. Getting those six points and if you look at the big east standings it is tightly packed from second to around the eighth/ninth spots. It's another big weekend for the league and us. It's nice to be home and we're looking forward to the next couple of matches just being at home. Obviously then the next two matches are on the road. But we've got everything to play for and that's something to be excited about. Just trying to get better and fine-tune."

BOMBACINO WITH MU'S FIRST HAT TRICK SINCE 2012
• Sophomore Alyssa Bombacino entered the Oct. 13 match at Seton Hall with four career goals and left with her first career hat trick. The Naperville, Illinois native started the MU onslaught in a 5-0 win over the Pirates that saw the Golden Eagles notch their highest goal total since Sept. 27, 2015 and their largest margin of victory since Sept. 25, 2014. Bombacino's hat trick is the first for a MU player since M Club Hall of Famer Maegan Kelly did so on Sept. 30, 2012 in a 5-0 win over Cincinnati.

GOLDEN EAGLES DOUBLE GOAL OUTPUT ON EAST COAST
• Marquette entered its East Coast trip to New York and New Jersey on Oct. 10-13 with eight goals in 12 matches and exited the match at Seton Hall with 16 goals on the season. MU was held scoreless for the first 60 minutes against the Red Storm and trailed 2-0 before an Alex Campana goal at the 60:18 mark launched a MU comeback. The Golden Eagles rallied for a 3-2 double overtime victory in Queens and followed it up with an impressive 5-0 victory at Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon.

GOLDEN EAGLES EARN UNITED SOCCER COACHES TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD
• The Marquette women's soccer team earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the 2018-19 academic year, marking the 11th consecutive year and 22nd season overall that the squad has been honored. The Golden Eagles recorded a team cumulative grade-point average of 3.496 last year.

WETHERELL RETURNS AFTER ALL-BIG EAST CAMPAIGN
• Sophomore Katrina Wetherell, who was a BIG EAST All-Preseason Team selection in August, notched her first goal of the year, the equalizer, against Creighton on Oct. 6 and added a second at Seton Hall on Oct. 13. Wetherell led the team as a freshman in 2018 with four assists while starting every match in the midfield. She earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors as a rookie in addition to all-freshman accolades.

SHOCK SPARKS THE MU OFFENSE
• Sophomore Macey Shock played her first two matches of the season on the weekend of Sept. 20 and provided a needed offensive spark for the Golden Eagles. MU had scored just three goals entering the match against NIU and Shock scored two of MU's three goals on the weekend against the Huskies and Colorado State. Shock's first career goal in the 87th minute pushed the match against NIU to overtime and she provided the equalizer in the eventual win over the Rams in the 77th minute. The sophomore also scored the golden goal in the 101st minute at St. John's on Oct. 10.

GOLDEN EAGLES BEGIN 15TH BIG EAST SEASON
• Marquette played its first season as a BIG EAST member in 2005 and is in its 15th year of conference action. The Golden Eagles have accumulated a record of 99-33-14 in BIG EAST action, which includes six regular season conference titles and a pair of tournament championships in 2012 and 2013. MU went a remarkable 39-1-1 in BIG EAST play in the four seasons from 2010-13.

CONTINUAL CHANGES IN STARTING LINEUP
• Marquette head coach Markus Roeders has used a different starting lineup for 11 of the 14 matches so far in 2019. Senior defender Bri Jaeger is the only player to have started every contest, while Kylie Sprecher, Maddy Henry, Emily Hess and Katrina Wetherell have started all but one match. The Sept. 29 game at Georgetown was the first time this season that MU used a lineup it had used previously.

TWO WINS OVER BIG TEN TEAMS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2011
• Marquette's back-to-back wins over Michigan and Minnesota marked the first time since the 2011 season that the Golden Eagles have earned victories over two Big Ten squads in the same year. That year MU knocked off Northwestern (1-0, OT) and Indiana (2-1) during a 18-4 season that included a BIG EAST American Division Championship and a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Marquette fell to another Big Ten team, Penn State, 4-1, to end its season.

KELDERMAN SHINES AT RIGHT BACK
• Josie Kelderman from nearby Glendale, Wisconsin has made a large impact early in her freshman season. The rookie started the first two matches in the midfield before switching to the backline, where she played almost exclusively for North Shore United during her youth career. The 5-foot-6 right back has been dynamic in that role since her first start on defense at then-No. 15 Wisconsin on Aug. 29. She helped keep Michigan off the board until Kylie Sprecher's double OT winner on Sept. 1 and provided the winning tally in MU's 1-0 victory at Minnesota on Sept. 5.