Marquette women’s soccer started the 2026-27 school year/athletic calendar off with an afternoon visit to St. Thomas on Wednesday, and they were very poor guests.
The Golden Eagles outshot the Tommies 17-4 overall and 12-1 in the first half alone. That helped them record three goals in the first 39 minutes of the match and coast to an easy 4-0 victory when the final horn sounded. Freshman goalie Mia Hurd got the start in net for Marquette, and she started off her career with a clean sheet where she didn’t even have to record a save and got through the entire first half without even needing to record a goal kick.
The writing was on the wall for how this game was going to go less than five minutes in when Marquette earned a free kick from about 20 yards out and maybe UST goalie Ayden Gagner would have had a chance at it if her teammate didn’t stick a knee just baaaaarrrrrely into the path of Megan Murray’s kick.
5' | MU – 1 | UST – 0
Murray's free kick from just outside the box is deflected off the wall and finds the back of the net!#WeAreMarquette | #MarquetteWSOCpic.twitter.com/3NmAkABJIh
If that wasn’t enough of a sign, then Lilly Coats — getting the start here after going out for the year in late August last season — dropping in this free kick from just short of the kickoff circle right on target where Gagner couldn’t really play it right definitely was a sign that the soccer gods were smiling down on the Golden Eagles on this day.
25' | MU – 2 | UST – 0
WELCOME BACK LILLY COATS!!#WeAreMarquette | #MarquetteWSOCpic.twitter.com/41o4rNiADS
We moved to 3-0 on the day in the 39th minute when St. Thomas couldn’t quite clear out this Olivia Hernandez corner kick and eventually Ella McAleenan got her head underneath it and pushed it in a good direction.
39' | MU – 3 | UST – 0
McAleenan joins the fun, as she heads one into the back of the net!#WeAreMarquette | #MarquetteWSOCpic.twitter.com/AvYaT1WOBi
Shouts to Hernandez with the Christian Cage style armbrace on her left forearm there, especially since that means she’s out there playing hurt. Sadly, she doesn’t get an assist on the goal.
The pace slowed waaaaaaay down in the second half, as the two teams combined for eight shots, with MU getting a 5-3 advantage. Part of the slowdown was Marquette’s lead at halftime, but also part of it was Callie Hefner ripping this shot into the net in her collegiate debut:
59' | MU – 4 | UST – 0
Callie Hefner powers one into the top right corner to extend the lead to four!#WeAreMarquette | #MarquetteWSOCpic.twitter.com/mZ9jeItUQe
All in all, 23 of the 27 field players on the roster for the Golden Eagles saw action here, including Hurd and Hefner making their Marquette and collegiate debuts. The same goes for Gabi Retana, who joined both women in the starting lineup. Kaylie Sheehan, Allessandra Russo, and Eleanor Kane all made their collegiate debuts off the bench in this contest, while both Sarah Sirdah and Kate Vanden Berg made their Marquette debuts after transferring in during the offseason.
How about a full three minute long video package, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Midco Sports Plus?
Up Next: Marquette is off til Sunday, but probably won’t be returning home in the meantime. Their next contest is at 1pm Central time up in Fargo, North Dakota, so clearly they’d like to be there on Saturday afternoon at the latest. They’ll be taking on North Dakota State in that one, and the Bison are picked to finish sixth out of eight teams in the Summit League this year. For the record: St. Thomas was picked to finish last. NDSU will start their season off on Thursday evening with a match against Green Bay.
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