Golden Eagles Travel to Madison For Mid-Week Match at Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's soccer team travels to Madison, Wisconsin on Tuesday evening for its second straight mid-week road trip after playing Milwaukee at Engelmann Stadium on Sept. 17.

The Golden Eagles will look to bounce back from two one-goal losses last week to Milwaukee and Creighton, while the Badgers have dropped their last three and four out of their past five games.

Tuesday's meeting between the two in-state rivals will be the 59th all-time meeting. The Badgers currently lead the series 31-16-11 and have taken the past three matchups. MU and UW have split the past two meetings at McClimon Soccer Complex, however, with the Golden Eagles taking home a 1-0 win in 2015.

STATS/STREAM:
Live stats will be on UWBadgers.com and live streaming will be available on BTN+ (subscription only).

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Marquette is searching for its first nonconference road victory since Sept. 2, 2016 (at UIC, 4-1).
MU and UW have split the past nine meetings against one another, 4-4-1.
Connor Alba (2nd Team), Luka Prpa (1st Team), Patrick Seagrist (1st Team) and Lukas Sunesson (Freshman Team) all returned this year after earning All-BIG EAST honors in 2018.
Josh Coan was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll last week after tallying a career-high five points (two goals, one assist) in a win over NIU (Sept. 13). He leads the team with seven points.
Connor Alba notched his second goal of the year against NIU. He's No. 2 on the team with five points.
Three-time all-conference midfielder Luka Prpa played a season-high 55 minutes Friday night against Creighton as he works his way back into game shape. Prpa has been recovering from an ankle injury.
Lukas Sunesson tallied a season-high five shots (four on goal) against Creighton on Friday.
Defenders Patrick Seagrist and Manuel Cukaj have played every minute (577) in the first six games.
15 different Golden Eagles have started in the first three games and six have started every game.
Five of the Golden Eagles' 17 games are against opponents either ranked or receiving votes in the NCAA'a top-25 poll. Georgetown (No. 5), Xavier (No. 11) and St. John's (No. 19) are ranked while and Creighton (17) and UC Davis (1) are receiving votes.

OPPONENT FORM:
Wisconsin (2-5-0, 0-1-0 BIG TEN)
The Wisconsin Badgers are led by 10th-year head coach John Trask, who has led his teams to five 10-plus win seasons since he's been at the helm in Madison. UW has reeled off three straight seasons with double digit victories, highlighted by a 12-5-5 2017 that resulted in the program's third-ever Sweet 16 appearance.

Trask's Badgers have started slow this season, winning just two out of their first seven games. They've played common opponents to MU in UAB (2-1 win) and UC Davis (2-0 loss) in addition to Big Ten power and No. 4-ranked Indiana (3-1 loss). UW also played a road game at MU's BIG EAST foe, Butler, and lost 1-0.

The Badgers have been shut out four times in 2019 and have scored five goals in seven games, despite returning 20 of their 24 goals (83.3 percent) from 2018. Sophomores Noah Melick (six goals) and Andrew Akindele (four goals) are both back for UW after earning Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors last season. Akindele scored the lone goal in UW's 1-0 victory over MU at Valley Fields in 2018.

SERIES HISTORY:
Marquette and Wisconsin have played 58 times in the history of the two programs, with the Badgers leading the overall series, 31-16-11. Tuesday's meeting, the 59th between the in-state rivals, will be played at McClimon Soccer Complex in Madison, Wisconsin. The Badgers have won the past three games overall in the series, including the last match in Madison (Oct. 4, 2017), 3-0. MU's last win in Madison was on Oct. 7, 2015, when Louis Bennett's squad took a 1-0 victory.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
Senior defender Patrick Seagrist: "We have to pay more attention to detail and learn from our mistakes in the last couple games. We're a veteran team with a lot of returners and we just need to bounce back."

Head coach Louis Bennett: "I thought we played well as a team on Friday night. We created plenty of scoring chances, but we struggled to finish. If we keep putting ourselves in position to score, we're going to put a couple home and string together some wins."

KEY POINTS:
COAN ON FIRE: Senior midfielder Josh Coan came into Friday's game against NIU without any points on the season. He quickly changed that, notching career-high's in points (5) and goals (2) in a game. He had a hand in all three goals, scoring two off set pieces and assisting on Connor Alba's goal in the 31st minute. He also scored the team's only goal in the Milwaukee Cup. He leads the team in shots (25), shots on goal (15), points (7) and goals (3).

MIRSBERGER MAKES MAGIC IN THE MIDFIELD: After redshirting in 2018, redshirt freshman Alex Mirsberger has made his presence felt in the MU lineup this season. In addition to starting all six games at midfield for the Golden Eagles, the Brookfield, Wisconsin, native scored his first collegiate goal on Sept. 6 against South Florida. After teammate Patrick Seagrist made a run towards the endline, he dropped back a pass to Mirsberger, who calmly awaited at the edge of the box. He settled himself and ripped a goal from 25-yards out to tie the game in the 79th minute.

ALBA LOOKS TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING: Senior midfielder Connor Alba has been off to a hot start this season. He netted goals in MU's final two exhibitions and started off the regular season by scoring on a penalty kick and dishing out the game-winning assist in double overtime off a free kick. The Waukesha, Wisconsin, native has accumulated 35 points in his career and is tied for the team in 2019 with five points. He scored his second goal of the season to put MU ahead for good against NIU (Sept. 13).

SENIOR LEADERSHIP FROM SEAGRIST ANCHORS BACK LINE: Senior defender Patrick Seagrist has been as dependable as it gets in the first six games of the 2019 season. He's one of two field players to have been on the pitch for every single minute of action (Manuel Cukaj is the other). After tallying 12 points in his junior year on the way to all-conference honors, he leads the team with two assists this season.

BENNETT ROTATES STARTING LINEUP: MU has used six different starting lineups in its first six games of the 2019 campaign. 15 different field players have started games for Bennett's squad. Alba, Cukaj, Mirsberger, Seagrist, Wegner and Weyman are the six players who have started in every game. Clay Smith, a freshman defender from Chesapeake, Virginia, started his first career game against Milwaukee on Tuesday.

UP NEXT:
The Golden Eagles will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on the Xavier Musketeers on Friday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. CT. MU will be back home on Tuesday, Oct. 1 for a game against Saint Louis at 7:05 p.m.

Keep up with the Marquette men's soccer program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteSoccer) and Instagram (@MarquetteSoccer) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteSoccer).