Marquette Women’s Soccer Preview: vs Truman State & at #22 Wisconsin

I don’t know if we have a long list of things that we know for sure after Marquette women’s soccer has started the year with two wins in their first two matches. Here’s what I feel comfortable stating as fact:

• Mia Hurd is THE goalkeeper here. If there was any question about whether or not head coach Chris Allen wanted to find minutes for any of his other keepers, it’s gone now. If it’s Hurd’s job to keep, then she had to play all the minutes in order to just log minutes at Division 1 since she’s a freshman. If Allen wanted to see Hailey Wade, for example, coming in at half against St. Thomas while up 3-0 makes sense. Didn’t happen, and Hurd kept on going.
• Megan Murray is an offensive force. It’s not that she has three goals already, or that her pair against North Dakota State show an attention to detail and an ability to take advantage of situations that’s going to lead to goals later in the season. It’s that Murray’s shots that didn’t go in so far this season (five) is equal to almost any other pair of her teammates if you combine all of their shots. The “almost” kicks in because Lilly Coats and Callie Hefner both have three attempts, and thus they have six if you combine them. But also: They have three in total, with each one scoring once, and Murray has eight in total. You see the point here.
• Marquette is definitively better than teams expected to finish in the bottom half of the Summit League. Six goals in two matches, two shutouts, one shutout accomplished without even allowing a shot on goal.
• Chris Allen is either supremely confident in his roster or trying to find combinations that work together on the field. That’s the only explanation for Clare Shea as the only field player to play all 180 minutes so far. That’s the only explanation for 22 women appearing in both matches so far this year. Okay, it could be a third thing: Allen isn’t confident in his players’ stamina quite yet, especially in 80 degree August weather in the Midwest. Could just be that. However, it feels like that rotation needs to get trimmed waaaay down at some point, because it’s hard to believe that, say, ranked opponents like Sunday’s are just going to agree to be as liberal with the substitution button.

The real bummer here? We’re not going to get to tack on any new things we know for sure after Wednesday afternoon, unless Marquette doesn’t show up against a Division 2 opponent. That one should be a one-sided shooting gallery, and as long as that idea holds true, that’s just Expected Outcome and nothing that gives us anything predictive for Sunday’s match, which doubles as the first real challenge of the season.

Match #3: vs Truman State Bulldogs (0-0-0)

Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Time: 3pm Central
Location: Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats:Stat Broadcast

This is the first ever regular season meeting between Marquette and Truman State. There’s nothing in the record book, but I guess I can’t rule out exhibition or spring season contests?

Okay, let’s get the facts out of the way:

• Truman State is a Division 2 team
• This isn’t a regular season match for Truman State, as their schedule doesn’t start until August 27.
• Truman State went 5-6-5 last season.
• Truman State returns all five women who scored two or more goals last season.
• Truman State returns their goalkeeper from last season, but she only stopped 65% of shots on goal against Division 2 competition.

And that’s a preview. Want me to put effort in? Don’t schedule Division 2 teams.

Match #4: at Wisconsin Badgers (0-1-0)

Date: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Time: 5pm Central
Location: McClimon Soccer Complex, Madison, Wisconsin
Streaming: B1G+, which will set you back $13 for a monthly pass.
Live Stats:Stat Broadcast

Marquette is 5-11-2 all time against Wisconsin. There was a stretch from 2005 to 2017 where the two teams didn’t play each other at all except for three NCAA tournament contests in that time. For whatever reason, then-head coach Markus Roeders elected to play a yearly preseason exhibition/scrimmage against the Badgers and that was it. It seems like the series is on a regular basis now, as this is the second straight season and third time in the last four years. Wisconsin has won the last five meetings and last year’s 2-1 contest was the first time that Marquette had scored a goal against the Badgers since a 2-2 draw in the 2010 NCAA tournament that ultimately went MU’s way on penalty kicks.

As I write this on Monday and publish this on Tuesday, Wisconsin is 0-1-0 on the year after a 1-0 loss at home to TCU to start the season. They will have a second result on the books by the time we get to Sunday, as the Badgers will be hosting BYU on Wednesday night. I am not writing an entirely separate preview between Thursday and Sunday for that game, although there is an argument that I could just ignore Marquette’s contest against Truman State in order to make it all make sense.

In any case, that is a rough loss to the Horned Frogs. It’s not just that UW started the season ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll, because they were #22 and TCU was #6. In that regard, the loss was expected, even at home. It’s not just that the Badgers outshot TCU 13-2, with both shots against coming in the first half, meaning that Wisconsin had control of the pace of play for the majority of 90 minutes.

It’s that this is the goal:

It’s not even credited as a shot on goal, and it’s not credited to a TCU player. It’s listed in the box score as Team Goal, which could be a polite way of saying Own Goal.

That’s rough.

I don’t know if Wisconsin is still going to be ranked if there’s a new USC poll coming out on Tuesday. There’s only eight people voting, so it’s impossible to tell what the impact from one 1-0 loss on an own goal is. We’ll definitely get a better feel for what’s going on with the Badgers after they deal with BYU — a team that’s just barely outside the top 25 in the preseason USC poll! — on Thursday.

Wisconsin was picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten this season, and with that preseason ranking, they’re clearly not a joke on any level. We’re going to learn a lot about Marquette by the end of this 90 minutes. The Big Ten doesn’t do a preseason all-conference team, just a Three Players To Watch For Every Team thing. As such, I’m just going to cut and paste in UW’s rundown on Hailey Baumann, Kiara Gilmore, and Drew Stover by way of doing a preview off of 90 minutes with no goals for and a lucky goal against:

Stover returns after starting all 22 matches in goal for the Badgers in 2025, playing 1,980 minutes while recording 61 saves, 10 shutouts and a .762 save percentage. A two-time Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week, she earned Second Team All-Big Ten and United Soccer Coaches All-North Region Second Team honors after helping Wisconsin rank among the conference’s top defensive teams.

Baumann enters her senior season after anchoring Wisconsin’s back line in 2025. She started all 22 matches, logging 1,947 minutes while contributing one goal and three assists. To top off an impressive defensive season she earned Second Team All-Big Ten recognition.

Gilmore made an immediate impact during her freshman campaign, starting 21 matches and totaling 1,801 minutes while tallying four assists, the most among Wisconsin defenders. She earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in her debut season.

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