#1 — What’s the plan for scoring goals?
If you dive into the weeds, Marquette had a problem putting the ball in the net last season, and said problems are amplified for 2025.
Problem #1 is that four of Marquette’s 21 goals came from penalty kicks by Mitar Mitrovic, and he transferred to Michigan in the offseason. Not only is that production gone — arguably PKs can be converted by anyone, but you see my point — but without the PKs, MU only averaged one goal per match a year ago. Problem #2 is that those four PKs were more goals than anyone else
on the team scored at all. Problem #3 is that Grant Locker is tied for the most goals out of anyone returning from last year’s roster at three, but Locker only played 206 minutes in 8 appearances last season. If the coaching staff thought he was a source of more goals, he would have played more, right? Problem #4 is that Mitchell Dryden is tied with Locker for goals from last year, but all three of his goals came in MU’s first two matches of the season. Problem #5 is that Justin Milovanov was also tied with those guys with three goals last season, but he didn’t score again after September 12th. Problem #6 is that Karim Abdoul Pare was only able to convert his team high 26 shots into one goal on the year, and on top of that, he was a senior anyway and now he’s gone.
If Marquette wants to be better than the 6-7-4 record they put up last season, then they have to find a way to be much more productive on the offensive end. Based on what we saw last season, that may mean figuring out a new way to try to put the ball in the net. Maybe that’s just a new name of who’s pushing the offense towards the net, or maybe it’s a tactical choice. One way or another, something’s gotta change.
#2 — Can the defense be better?
If there’s questions as to what’s going on over on the offense end of the field, then we have to at least ask if Marquette’s defense can be a bit more stout to do the offense some favors until they figure things out. Head coach David Korn appears to be able to rely on running out mostly the same defensive backline that he did last season, and it’s reasonable to think that a set of defenders with continuity playing together should be a little bit better than the year before, right? Maybe? Ryan Amond, Kyle Bebej, and Jack Wandschneider are the top three returning non-keepers on the roster in terms of minutes played last year, and Marten Brink is back after playing over 1,300 minutes in net as a freshman. The Golden Eagles are going to have to figure out how to replace Jai Hsieh-Bailey on the backline next to those three returning guys, but finding a replacement for one of your five major components to the defense is a problem that you’re happy to have when it comes to college soccer.
Even better news: There’s options for Korn. Diegoarmando Alvarado appeared in just seven contests last season, so if that was mostly a fitness issue for him, then he could slot into the defense pretty easily. Same for Gabriel Rokov, who looked like he was going to be holding down a spot in the defensive third early last season before missing everything after mid-September. I remember thinking of Tristen Ronnestad-Stevens as a defender more than a midfielder when we last saw him in 2023, so if he’s back from his leg injury and up for big minutes in the back again, he’s a strong option as well.
#3 — Is this a Big East Tournament team?
Even with a 2-4-2 record in Big East play last season, Marquette was on the verge of playing in the postseason for the first time since the timeshifted spring 2021 season, and the first time in a regular full season since 2019. With the two division format in the Big East thanks to Akron joining as an affiliate member, eight teams qualified for the conference tourney last season: The two division winners and the next six teams by standings points earned in conference play. The fact of the matter is that Marquette tied with #8 seed DePaul with 8 points and that 2-4-2 record. One more goal in a 2-2 draw with the Blue Demons would have pushed the Golden Eagles over the top. Same for a 0-0 draw at Xavier. A slightly different result in 1-0 losses to Seton Hall and Providence could have changed things as well.
Short version: Marquette was close to the postseason in David Korn’s first year at the helm.
Can they find the answers to solve the riddles that they could not answer last season? Quite honestly: Fine tuning what happened last year could be enough to extend the season, and with a year of playing for Korn, maybe everyone’s understanding each other a little bit better now. Maybe that’s the difference between wrapping up the year after the regular season finale against Villanova and getting to at least play a postseason match.
