The nature of soccer, especially the current version of college soccer that has eliminated overtime if regulation ends in a tie, sometimes leads to weird things in the standings in a small sample size.
For example, everyone in the Big East has played at least four matches, and there are four teams that are currently unbeaten. Obviously, Marquette is one of them. That’s why we’re talking about this. Two of the other three — Villanova and Xavier — are unbeaten through five contests. That’s half the league
schedule, which means it’s roughly on par with one of the basketball teams going 10-0. Heck, over in volleyball this fall, where they’re playing a 16 game schedule this season, no one got to four matches without a loss.
But because 90 minutes is the end, no matter what the scoreboard says, we’ve got four unbeaten teams in women’s soccer. The four unbeatens have combined for 10 ties already this year, which is how we’re hitting or about to hit the midway point with all those zeroes in the loss column. It’s also limiting the available number of points in the standings, so as we traverse the rest of the season, the three points for a win are going to get a little more important each and every time out.
Which is why it’s nice to have Mia Hurd on your team. Marquette’s freshman goalkeeper has turned into what I figure has to be the presumptive favorite for Freshman of the Year in the Big East because she’s been named Goalkeeper of the Week four times, more than anyone else. She’s second in the league in both goals against average and save percentage, trailing only Seton Hall’s Katherine Kleinsmith in both departments. You can easily make the argument for Hurd as the favorite for Goalkeeper of the Year in the league because she’s played 450 more minutes than Kleinsmith.
To put it another way: Hurd is #17 in the country in goals-against average (just 0.48 per 90 minutes) and 9th in the country in save percentage.
To put it another way:
And those numbers amongst freshman netminders were BEFORE she blanked DePaul last time out. Are we handing out National Freshman Of The Year trophies? Is that a thing?
Big East Match #5: at St. John’s Red Storm (3-6-4, 0-2-3 Big East)
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2026
Time: 6pm Central
Location: Belson Stadium, Queens, New York
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Marquette is 18-2-2 all time against St. John’s. The Golden Eagles have won the last two meetings, but the Red Storm won 3-0 in 2023 and the two sides went to a 1-1 draw back in 2022. That still has Marquette at 8-1-1 in the last 10 contests in the series, though.
St. John’s was an 85th minute penalty kick away from being 0-1-4 in Big East play right now. That’s what happened last weekend in their most recent match, which turned into a 2-1 loss to Georgetown. Why yes, St. John’s did score first on what would ultimately be their only official shot of the entire match. That goal snapped a four match goalless streak for the Red Storm, which means, yes, it was the first goal of Big East play for the Johnnies. “Hey, does that mean….” Yes, it does mean they went to scoreless draws with UConn, Creighton and Butler.
By the way: It’s worth noting that if the Johnnies had merely not committed the foul that allowed for the PK, St. John’s would now be in front of Georgetown in the Big East standings because that is Georgetown’s only win in league play so far. I’m old enough to remember when Georgetown ran this conference…… which was LAST YEAR when they went 10-0-0.
ANYWAY.
The Red Storm are exactly as offensively troubled as “three straight scoreless draws” tell you that they are. They have scored just eight goals in 13 matches this season. They average just 8.2 shot attempts per game, and that breaks down to less than three shots on goal per match. Nora Basile is their points leader because she has a goal AND an assist, the only Red Storm player to have accomplished such a magical feat to this point of the season. Sia Bharadwaj and Snaefiour Eva Eiriksdottir both have two assists, and SLOW DOWN, y’all being fancy now.
Kayla Bower is the goalkeeper here, and you can almost hear her whispering “I’m so tired.” Not because she’s played all but 11 minutes this season, but because she’s been awesome. 0.85 goals against average, stopping nearly 81% of shots on goal? She is the least of STJ’s problems with six shutouts on the year. Her field defense isn’t really putting her in bad positions as they give up just 11.2 shot attempts per game, but can you image how much less work Bower would have to do if STJ averaged even 10 shots a match on the other end?
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