No. 19 Women's Soccer Hosts Marquette for Saturday Evening Match-Up

Saturday, October 25

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:30 PM

Xavier University

Marquette

No. 19 Women's Soccer Hosts Marquette for Saturday Evening Match-Up

10.24.25 | Women's Soccer

Live Stream Live Stats

Musketeers and Golden Eagles set for 6:30 p.m. start on ESPN+

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - No. 19 Xavier women's soccer returns home to host Marquette on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Corcoran Field. The Musketeers and Golden Eagles are set to get underway at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

GAME DETAILS

vs. Marquette
Saturday, Oct. 25 - 6:30 p.m.
Cincinnati, Ohio • Corcoran Field

BIG EAST STANDINGS


SCHOOL	CONF	PTS.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK
Georgetown	9-0	27	13-2-2	.824	W9
Xavier	7-0-1	22	12-2-2	.812	W6
UConn	6-1-2	20	10-3-3	.719	W3
Villanova	4-4	12	9-7	.562	L2
Creighton	3-3-2	11	6-7-3	.469	W2
Butler	2-3-3	9	5-4-6	.533	T1
Marquette	2-3-3	9	6-6-4	.500	L3
Providence	2-4-2	8	5-6-3	.464	W1
DePaul	1-6-1	4	4-11-1	.281	L2
St. John's	0-5-3	3	2-8-5	.300	T1
Seton Hall	0-7-1	1	3-8-5	.344	L5

BROADCAST INFO

Xavier will broadcast all nine home women's soccer matches on either Xavier+ or ESPN+.
The subscription cost of Xavier+ will be $10 per match or $49 for a fall season pass to watch all 19 home Xavier+ broadcasts (includes men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball). All purchases are subject to the customer's state sales tax.
A subscription to ESPN+ is required to view the four home women's soccer matches aired on ESPN+. An ESPN+ subscription will also include a number of road women's soccer contests (determined by the host institution).

OPPONENT INFO

Marquette is 6-6-4 on the season, and 2-3-3 in BIG EAST play, currently in a tie for sixth in the league standings. MU has league wins over St. John's and DePaul, have played Butler, Creighton and UConn to draws, and have set backs against Villanova, Georgetown and Providence.
The Golden Eagles, who were picked ninth in the league's preseason poll, went 6-11-3 overall last season with a 3-6-1 mark in BIG EAST play, finishing ninth in the league's standings.
Xavier took a 2-1 win over the Golden Eagles in last season's match in Milwaukee. The Musketeers enter the 2025 on a four-match unbeaten streak against the Golden Eagles. Overall, Xavier is 6-10-1 against Marquette, dating back to 1989.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier wraps up the regular season by hosting Georgetown on Saturday, Nov. 1, set for a 6:30 p.m. start.
The Musketeers have clinched a bid to the four-team BIG EAST Championship, set to run Nov. 6-9 at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md.

WEEKLY AWARDS

After helping Xavier to a pair of shutout BIG EAST wins, a pair of Musketeers, Presley Pennekamp and Natalie Bain, earned honors from the league office, with Pennekamp earning Freshman of the Week, while Bain picked up Defensive Player of the Week honors. Additionally, Samantha Erbach earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
Pennekamp, a forward from Cincinnati, Ohio, picked up Freshman of the Week honors after collecting three points for the week. She scored her first collegiate goal, the game-winner, in Xavier's 2-0 victory against Providence and picked up an assist on Erbach's insurance goal against the Friars. Combined with two previous assists, she has five points for her freshman season.
Bain, a senior from Alexandria, Ky., totaled 159 minutes for the Musketeers as Xavier picked up a pair of shutout wins. She played 69 minutes in Xavier's 3-0 win over St. John's, helping the Musketeer defense hold St. John's to a season-low matching two shots, with just one look on-goal, on the way to its eighth shutout of the season. Against Providence, Bain played the full 90 minutes, helping Xavier's defense hold Providence to just two shots overall and one shot on-goal, both season lows for the Friars, as Xavier picked up its ninth clean sheet of the season.
Erbach, a forward from Lebanon, Ohio, had five points for the week on two goal and an assist for the week. In the Musketeers' 3-0 win over St. John's, she finished with three points after scoring her first game-winner of the season, and adding to her NCAA DI leading assist total, now standing at 12 for the season. In Xavier's 2-0 win at Providence, Erbach added to her BIG EAST-leading goal total, now standing at 12 goals for the season. Combined with her 12 assists for the season, Erbach has 36 points, the second most in NCAA DI and the third most points in a single season in Xavier program history.

BAIN CALLED UP to U-23 USA National Team Training Camp

Defender Natalie Bain has been named to the Provisional U-23 Women's National Team Roster for the upcoming Domestic Training Camp. Bain is the only collegiate student-athlete among the 24 players who have been called up to the U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team training camp outside of Philadelphia, Pa. that will run from Oct. 20-28.
From Oct. 20-23, the camp will run concurrently with the U.S. Women's National Team's time in Philadelphia so U.S. head coach Emma Hayes and her staff can observe trainings. The U-23s will also attend the USA vs. Portugal match on Oct. 23 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa. The U-23s will stay in Philadelphia area to train after the USWNT leaves for Connecticut and then Kansas City to finish its October slate of matches.
Bain, a senior from Alexandria, Ky., has started in all 16 matches this season, playing over 1,200 minutes to help Xavier to 12 wins, including nine shutout victories. Bain has helped the Xavier defense limit opponents to just eight goals over the last 14 matches, with the Musketeers going unbeaten through that stretch. Offensively, she has a career-high 10 points on three goals and four assists so far in 2025.
For her career, Bain has played in 80 matches for the Musketeers, starting in all 80. She has totaled over 6900 minutes for the Xavier backline, helping the Musketeer defense to 43 shutouts during her time at Xavier.
This is Bain's first call up to the U.S. Women's National Team. The reigning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Bain was selected as the league's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was ranked No. 8 on TopDrawerSoccer's National Top 100 players list ahead of the 2025 season. Bain, who was a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist in 2024, was also named to the Preseason Watch List for the 2025 season.
Bain became the first Musketeer in program history to earn USC All-American honors twice in her career after being named to the USC All-America Second Team following the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Bain has also earned All-BIG EAST honors following each of her three seasons at Xavier, picking up All-Freshman Team and Second Team accolades in 2022, and First Team honors in 2023 and 2024.

ERBACH named to TDS Player of the Year Leaderboard

Sophomore Samantha Erbach earned recognition among the nation's elite as one of 10 players listed on TopDrawerSoccer's Player of the Year Leaderboard.
Erbach leads the BIG EAST and ranks among the top players in the NCAA DI in offensive output, with 37 points so far this season, the third most in the country, while her 2.31 points per game rank third in NCAA DI.
The native of Lebanon, Ohio, is the NCAA leader with a school-record 13 assists for the season, and leads the NCAA at 0.81 assists per game.
Erbach's 12 goals lead the BIG EAST and are the 11th most in the NCAA, while her goals per game (0.75) rank 14th in the country.
The forward leads the league and ranks seventh in the country with 4.56 shots per game, with 2.00 shots per game going on-goal, 14th most in NCAA DI.

XAVIER NOTABLES

Xavier won its sixth-straight with the victory over Providence, the longest winning streak for the Musketeers since winning six in a row in 2022. The Musketeers matched the program record for consecutive matches without a loss at 14, a record set in 2000 (13-0-1).
With the win over Seton Hall on Oct. 11, Xavier hit the 10-win threshold for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, only missing the 10-win mark in the abbreviated 2020 season (played in spring 2021 due to COVID-19).
Eight matches into the 10-match BIG EAST schedule, Xavier is 7-0-1 in conference play, currently standing in second place with 22 points, trailing only first place Georgetown (9-0-0) with 24 points. The two teams will face each other in the regular season finale on Saturday. Nov. 1, at Corcoran Field.
The Musketeers moved in both polls this week, coming in at No. 19 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 this week and moving up to No. 15 in the TopDrawerSoccer poll.
Xavier has nine shutouts on the season, with the Musketeers' shutout percentage of 0.563 ranking third in the BIG EAST and 22nd in NCAA DI.
The Musketeers are 12-0-2 over the past 14 matches, outscoring opponents 52-8 during that period.
The Xavier offense leads the BIG EAST and ranks in the top three in the country total goals (52 – 2nd in DI), total points (155 – 2^nd DI), goal differential (39 – 2nd in DI), points per game (9.69 – 3rd in DI) and scoring offense (3.25 – 3rd in DI).
Xavier also ranks in the top five in the country and leads the conference in assists per game (3.19 – 4th in DI) and total assists (51 – 5th in DI).
Samantha Erbach leads the Musketeers and the BIG EAST with 37 points on a team-high 12 goals and NCAA-leading 13 assists, the third-most points among NCAA DI players. She ranks third in NCAA DI at 2.31 points per game.
Erbach's total goals lead the BIG EAST and rank 11th in NCAA DI, while her goals per game (0.75) rank 14th in NCAA DI. Erbach, who was ranked No. 12 on TopDrawerSoccer's Midseason Top 100 Players list, leads the nation with 13 assist, a school record, and 0.81 assists per game.
After posting her second hat trick of the season against Villanova, Elin Hansson now has 11 goals for the year, trailing only Erbach among BIG EAST players and 17th most in NCAA DI. Hansson, who was ranked No. 37 in TopDrawerSoccer's Midseason Top 100 Players list, also ranks second in he BIG EAST in goals per game (0.75), 24th-most in the country, and ranks 16th in the nation in shot accuracy (0.625).
Combined with four assists, Hansson has 26 points on the season, trailing only Samantha Erbach among BIG EAST players and ranking 24th among all DI players. She also ranks second in the league and 29th in NCAA DI with 1.63 points per game.
Xavier has 12 different goal scorers so far this season, with nine, Hansson, Erbach, Emma Flick, Peyton Kohls, Chelsea Loeser, Reese Sochacki, Natalie Bain, Regan Dancer and Reese Slater, knocking in multiple goals.
Eleven Musketeers have also dished out assists. In addition to Erbach, Regan Dancer also ranks in the Top 40 in the country in total assists with 7, and ranks No. 51 in DI in assists per game (0.44)

LAST TIME OUT

Xavier won its sixth-straight and matched the program record with a 14-match unbeaten streak with a 2-0 victory at Providence on Saturday evening.
The match was scoreless going into the final minutes of the first half, with Xavier leading 9-0 on shots. The Musketeers' 10th shot of the half, from Presley Pennekamp, following a corner kick from Samantha Erbach in the 43rd minute, found the back of the net to give Xavier the 1-0 lead going into the break. In the first 45 minutes, Xavier had a 10-0 advantage on shots led by three looks for Natalie Bain. The Musketeers also had a 10-1 advantage on corner kicks in the first half.
The Musketeers made it a 2-0 advantage midway through the second half, after Pennekamp, off a long ball from Breanna Dardano, crossed to Erbach for the insurance goal in the 66th minute. The Xavier defense limited Providence to just two shots for the game and just one look on-frame, which was collected for a save by Maria Galley for the Musketeers' ninth shutout of the season.
Presley Pennekamp finished with three points after scoring her first collegiate goal, the game-winner, and picking up an assist on Erbach's insurance goal. Combined with two previous assists, she has five points for her freshman season.
Samantha Erbach added to her BIG EAST-leading goal total with her second-half score, now standing at 12 for the season. She also picked up an assist on Pennekamp's goal to give her an NCAA-leading 13 assists for the season, a Xavier single season record. Erbach has 37 points, the second most in NCAA DI and the third most points in a single season in Xavier program history.
Natalie Bain picked up an assist on Pennekamp's goal, her fourth of the season. Combined with three goals, she has 10 points for the season.
The Musketeers had 20 shots on the day, led by six for Erbach, and six looks on-frame.
Natalie Bain, Emma Flick, Reese Slater and Erbach played the full 90 minutes for the Musketeers.
Xavier's defense held Providence to just two shots overall and one shot on-goal, both season lows for the Friars, as Xavier picked up its ninth clean sheet of the season.
Maria Galley played the full time in-goal, earning her sixth complete shutout of the year.

RETURNING MUSKETEERS

Xavier returns 14 letterwinners, including seven starters, from 2024's 15-win team. The Musketeer returnees accounted for over 60 percent of Xavier's 51 goals scored last season, the most goals scored by the program since 1984.
Among the returnees are 2025 All-BIG EAST Preseason selections Natalie Bain, Samantha Erbach and Regan Dancer.
Erbach, the 2024 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and All-BIG EAST First Team selection, was named to the USC Forwards to Watch list and came in at No. 51 on the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Players to Watch list. Erbach started in all 21 matches for the Musketeers during her rookie season. She wrapped up last season with a team-high 11 goals and dished out five assists to finish with 27 points, second most on the team. Among her goals were a team-best four game-winning goals, including the game-winners in the Musketeers' win at Butler and in the win over DePaul in the BIG EAST Semifinals.
Dancer, a 2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection, started in all 21 matches for the Musketeers in 2024, finishing the season with a career-high 14 points on a career-high six goals and two assists, matching for third most goals on the team and fourth most points. Among her goals were three game-winners, including at BIG EAST opponents Villanova and Marquette, tying for third in the BIG EAST for game-winning goals.
2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection Emma Flick, who was named to USC's Midfielders to Watch list, started all 21 matches for the Musketeers. She collected a career-high 20 points on six goals and a team high-matching eight assists, setting new career-highs for goals and assists. Among her six goals were three game-winners, tying her for third in the BIG EAST for game-winning goals last season. Flick's eight assists were tied for first in the BIG EAST and tied for 64th in NCAA DI following the 2024 season.
Senior goalkeeper Maria Galley was also a 2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team Selection after starting in all 21 matches in-goal for the Musketeers, finishing the campaign with 15 wins, the second most in a single season in school history. Galley's 15 wins in 2024 give her a school-record 43 wins for her Xavier career. Galley collected 51 saves and finished with nine complete shutouts, giving her a school-record 32 shutouts as a Musketeer. She ranked No.1 in the BIG EAST and 26^th in NCAA DI for shutouts following the 2024 season.

2024 SEASON

The 2024 Musketeers posted a 15-4-2 overall record, the third most wins in program history, in Dean Ward's first season as head coach.
In conference action, Xavier posted a 7-2-1 record in BIG EAST play, earning the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Championship.
The 2024 Musketeers also earned the highest-ranked road result in program history, at 2-2 draw at No. 4 Michigan State.
On offense, the Musketeers finished the season with 51 goals, the second most in program history and the most by a Xavier team since the 1984 season, and collected 139 points, the most by the Musketeers in over three decades.
The Musketeer defense collected 10 shutouts, only allowing 18 goals on the season.
Following the season, three Musketeers earned BIG EAST awards, with Natalie Bain being named Defender of the Year, Samantha Wiehe earning Midfielder of the Year, and Samantha Erbach picking up Freshman of the Year honors.
Bain and Wiehe were both named USC Second Team All-American, marking the first time in program history that two Musketeers earned All-America honors.

BIG EAST COACHES POLL

BIG EAST Preseason Women's Soccer Coaches' Poll
(first-place votes)
1. Georgetown - 100 (10)
2. Xavier - 87 (1)
3. UConn - 86
4. Butler - 72
5. Creighton - 64
6. Providence - 53
7. DePaul - 39
8. Villanova - 33
9. Marquette - 28
10. St. John's - 25
11. Seton Hall - 18

Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year
Chioma Okafor, UConn, Sr., F

Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Natalie Bain, Xavier, Sr., D

Preseason BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Cara Martin, Georgetown, Sr., GK

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Amelie Darey, Butler, Sr., D
Talia Sommer, Butler, Sr., F/M
Maja Lardner, Georgetown, Gr., F
Cara Martin, Georgetown, Sr., GK
Natalie Means, Georgetown, Sr., F
Ella McBride, Providence, Sr., D
Anaya Johnson, UConn, Jr., M
Chioma Okafor, UConn, Sr., F
Natalie Bain, Xavier, Sr., D
Regan Dancer, Xavier, Sr., M
Samantha Erbach, Xavier, Sr., F