I’m choosing to write this preview and then do a separate one for Marquette’s match on Saturday at home against DePaul. Why? One simple reason beyond I will have the free time to do it: The Golden Eagles don’t have a win in Big East play yet this year.
They have two draws, which puts them in a better position than, say, Seton Hall, which is winless but has two losses and a draw. The Golden Eagles are arguably better off than DePaul and Providence, who have one draw and one loss through two matches.
You could even say that they’re better off than St. John’s — hey, that’s their opponent on Wednesday! — because Marquette has only played two matches to get to their two draws, while the Red Storm have played three and tacked on a loss to their pair of ties. At least Marquette has eight matches left to play, STJ has only seven.
But it’s not great to be winless, and so we’ll reset the deck after what happens against St. John’s. Marquette made a hell of an effort to tie Butler after trailing 2-0, but you could argue that maybe MU should have beaten Creighton. They were up 1-0 and the match only ended as a draw because of a penalty kick. If Jocelyn Leigh doesn’t put her hands in the air while defending that ball, there’s no VAR for the handball, there’s no call, there’s no PK, and maybe that means Marquette wins 1-0.
Maybe Marquette is closer than you think to a win in the league. They get two contests at home this week against teams either tied or behind them in the standings at this early point of the calendar, so in theory, those are two chances to get wins and start steering this ship in the direction of the top half of the standings. One thing at a time though, and we’ll reconvene on Friday to talk about the next match in the context of this one.
Big East Match #3: vs St. John’s Red Storm (2-4-4, 0-1-2)
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Time: 7pm Central
Location: Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWSOC
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 17-2-2 all time against St. John’s. The history of the series is Marquette winning several in a row, then a draw, then a St. John’s win, then it starts again. Three years ago: A draw. Two years ago: A St. John’s win. Last year: Marquette wins, 2-1, for head coach Chris Allen’s first Big East victory. I’m just saying, I can see the pattern here and I would like it to continue.
St. John’s comes into Wednesday night without a win in their last seven contests. That leaves them without a win for the entire month of September, as their last W was on August 31 against Youngstown State and this one is, of course, on the first day of October. The Red Storm have scored just one goal in their last four matches, going to a scoreless draw with Boston College, losing 2-0 to UConn in their Big East opener, tying Providence 1-1, and tying Seton Hall last time out without anyone putting one in the net. The Johnnies have been outshot 14-7, 13-4, and 17-5 in their three Big East contests, so it’s safe to say that Marquette’s going to have a lot of explaining to do if they can’t find away to be threatening on a regular basis in this match.
As you’d expect with that information, it’s hard to call anyone on the STJ roster a big time offensive threat. They have just six goals scored on the year, with Madison Mariani and Jaylen Vallecillo tying for the team lead with two each. Mariani is the points leader on the squad because she has an assist to go with her goals, and she’s also the only Red Storm player with more than 10 shots, and yes, they have played 10 games this season.
The 900 minutes in net have been covered by Kayla Bower, and this is the part where we acknowledge that scoring on St. John’s is no picnic. Bower is letting in just one goal per 90 minutes this season and she’s stopping over 83% of shots on goal. STJ is allowing way too many shots, which is how you end up with Bower leading the Big East in saves per game. Her 4.90/match is waaaaay above #2, which is 3.10/match for UConn’s Ava Yamas. Marquette might get chances against this Red Storm team, but beating Bower and putting one in? Slightly different story.
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