Marquette men’s soccer (2-1-1) stepped into McClimon Soccer Complex in the state capital Monday night with the hopes of defeating their rival and #23 nationally ranked Wisconsin (4-0-0) for the first time since 2019.
As the night went on, it became brutally obvious that the Golden Eagles would end up having to wait another year to break that dry spell, with the Badgers picking up a sweeping 3-1 victory.
After the opening dozen minutes saw each team attempt to poke and prod the other in possession, a sudden burst by Emile Kisse in the 13th saw him dance through the Marquette defense to set an early 1-0 advantage.
The Golden Eagles subsequently struggled offensively, often failing to reach the attacking third of the pitch on many forward moves, adding on numerous turnovers as they failed to register a shot in the opening 30 minutes.
By the end of the match, the Badgers had piled on 21 shots to Marquette’s 4, a season low for the Golden Eagles and a sign as to just how clinical Wisconsin’s nationally ranked offense was.
A second Wisconsin goal was piled on in the 26th minute when a corner kick was deflected to the top of the Marquette box, and the shot that followed careened towards the far post where it would be turned in by Markie Hrvojevic.
Marquette pulled one back four minutes later when a corner kick from fifth-year midfielder Mateo Stoka found the head of an unimpeded sophomore defender Joey Buchanan to pull one back.
As the first half came to a close, it looked like Marquette was just beginning to fire on all cylinders, but the Badgers restored their two-goal advantage less than a minute into the second half.
A penalty called on an incidental handball by Buchanan spelled disaster for the Golden Eagles as it was turned into the top corner from the spot.
This game was the biggest test in either team’s season thus far, with both sides undefeated and coming off of wins. Prior to Monday, Marquette had outscored its opponents at a 2:1 ratio, while the Badgers scored 11 through three games without conceding.
In the end, though, Wisconsin flexed its nationally ranked pedigree on its in-state rivals and proved itself unimpeachable in this affair on both the scoreboard and the stat sheet.
This match gave the Golden Eagles their first loss of the 2026 campaign, and they look to get back to their winning ways on Saturday afternoon with a second straight B1G 10 matchup, this time against Northwestern (2-0-1) at Valley Fields.
This article was written by Eamon Bevan. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @EamonBevanMU.