The Golden Eagles have some nasty tests looming for them in non-conference play this season.
Back on January 29th, Inside Lacrosse in partnership with KANE announced the preseason media poll top 25. Bit of a change there, as last year, IL teamed up with the IWLCA for one singular top 25 poll, and now we’re presumably going to get two polls. I say presumably, because the IWLCA doesn’t have a preseason poll out right now.
IN ANY CASE, we’re here to talk about how the preseason top 25 impacts YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles.
Marquette will start off the season with three games against unranked squads, but game #4 ramps up in a big way when they head to Ann Arbor on February 23rd to face preseason #3 Michigan. That’s not the biggest item on the docket to start the year, as two games later, Marquette will host preseason #2 Northwestern on March 7th. Neither of those two squads picked up first place votes in the preseason poll, as all 17 went to preseason #1 Boston College. That’s probably more of a commentary on the Eagles than anything else, but it’s clear that UM and NU are going to be vying for the Big Ten title…. but they won’t be alone there with two more B1G squads in the preseason top 11.
Four days after hosting the Wildcats, Marquette will be out in the Rocky Mountains for a Tuesday afternoon game against Colorado. The Buffaloes start off the year at #23 in the KANE media poll, so that’s probably not going to be a super fun turnaround game for the Golden Eagles.
That’s it for non-conference foes in the poll as MU’s final three opponents outside the Big East are not ranked to start the season and they’re not listing any Receiving Votes teams. However, preseason Big East favorite Denver starts off the year at #15 in the country, and boy, wouldn’t you like to know whether it’s UConn or Villanova that got the vote from someone that’s not DU head coach Liza Kelly right now? Think about it: There’s a Big East coach in the league that thinks either UConn or Villanova is clearly better than the preseason #15 team in the country when no one else in the league is in the top 25.
Marquette gets the 2025 season officially underway when they visit Central Michigan on Wednesday, February 12th. First draw on that one in Mount Pleasant is scheduled for 1pm Central. The MU home opener is set for Monday, February 17th, when Louisville comes to Milwaukee for a Noon start.
You can check out the entire preseason top 25 right here.