We can keep the Marquette portion of this men’s soccer preview pretty straightforward.
ITEM #1: With a record of 10-5-1 overall and 3-4-0 in Big East play, this is the best of head coach David Korn’s three seasons in charge. Year 1 had more losses than wins and just two Big East victories. Year 2 looked like a bit of a step back, as Marquette finished with more losses and ties than wins and the Golden Eagles got badly outscored in league play while winning just one of their seven matches. This will
be a season with a winning overall record no matter what, and three Big East wins is the most under Korn so far. Like I said, clearly the best of his three, no matter what the result on Friday is.
ITEM #2: Thanks to the miracle of Scenario Central on the Big East’s website, I can click Draw and Akron Wins and see a little “Eliminated” pop up next to Marquette’s name in the standings. The only way into the four team Big East tournament for the Golden Eagles is by becoming the second team this season to defeat #6 Akron. However, winning alone will not do it. If I click Marquette wins, nothing changes for the Golden Eagles by that result alone. The Golden Eagles need help. Perhaps even more importantly to that point, Marquette needs more than one thing to help them. Clicking Marquette wins and then going one by one through every other possible result around the conference doesn’t change anything for the Golden Eagles. There are 87 different scenarios that can play out that put Marquette into the conference tournament if they win, and 18 of them even make the Golden Eagles the #3 seed. The catch is that there are 729 possible scenarios overall, which means MU only gets into the field in less than 12% of them.
As long as they beat the #5 team in the country first, of course.
All 12 teams are in action on Friday night, and all six matches start off at 6pm Central. We won’t know if Marquette gets the help they need until all the results are final.
Big East Match #8: vs #5 Akron Zips (10-1-4, 3-1-3 Big East)
Date: Friday, November 6, 2026
Time: 6pm Central
Location: Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Marquette is 1-10-5 all time against Akron, in case you wanted to add a fun extra level of difficulty to winning this one match to get into the postseason. MU’s lone win in the series is a 1-0 overtime victory in the 2013 NCAA tournament, so we’ve got that going for us, which is nice. Since Akron joined the Big East as an affiliate member for men’s soccer in 2023, Marquette is 0-2-1 against the Zips, and they’ve been shutout in each of the past two seasons.
By the way: Akron hasn’t clinched a spot in the conference tournament yet either. Relating specifically to this match, they’ll only clinch a spot in the field with a win, which will also lock up at least a share of the Big East Midwest Division title as well. I suppose Akron’s biggest problem in that regard is their draws with Butler, Creighton, and Providence in Big East play, and seeing as Butler is 3-8-3 overall and Providence is winless in Big East contests, I think we’ve identified Akron’s biggest two problems out of those three draws.
The Zips roasted Villanova last time out, picking up a 5-0 win on the road. They outshot the Wildcats 26-10, and that includes a 15-1 first half that ended with Akron up 3-0 at the break. That match had a big impact on Akron’s team scoring title race, as Thomas O’Rourke scored the first goal and thus the game winner to leave him atop the points chart with 14. However, he’s there because of his team high six assists, and Farrel Ngongang scored twice against Villanova to move him into a tie with Remi Agunbiade for the team lead in goals with five each. Both of those men have two assists as well to sit two points back of O’Rourke in the points column. Matthew Paiva is lurking as well with four goals after scoring the Zips’ fourth marker against Villanova.
Brett Kaminski has not been untouchable in net for Akron. He’s allowing just barely under a goal per 90 minutes this season and he’s only stopping 73% of shots on frame. To a certain extent, Akron’s defense is relying on the offense keeping the ball on the other end of the field, as they’re outshooting teams 17.9 to 8.1 on average. That’s not great news for a Marquette team that’s about dead even with their opponents in shots this season overall and underwater by about a shot per game in conference play. If MU can create chances against Kaminski, there’s a solid chance they can find a goal, the question is merely whether or not they’ll be able to move the ball close enough to do it.
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