Marquette Men’s Soccer Preview: The 52nd Milwaukee Cup!

For the first time in the half-century long history of the crosstown rivalry between Marquette men's soccer and Milwaukee men's soccer, Marquette secured the Milwaukee Cup traveling trophy for a fourth straight year. Marquette had never held the Cup for four years before that. Even with the series going allllll the way back to the first meeting in 1973, Marquette had never held it for four straight years. MU didn't even get to two straight until back-to-back 3-0 victories in 1982 and 1983, and a draw a year later was the first time they got to three straight. This is the kind of thing that happens when the all-time series history is tilted towards Milwaukee with Marquette's record standing at 13-31-6 against the Panthers.

Those were Marquette's only three runs of three straight years of holding the Cup.

And now, 2022-???, thanks to a 3-2 victory over on the East Side last season , powered by Tristan Ronnestad-Stevens' first career goal. Let's watch again, shall we?

Yes, if TRS hadn't come through there, Marquette still would have kept the Cup as the rules about draws means that the holder of the Cup keeps the Cup in that circumstance. But making series history with a win feels so much more compelling and important.

Can they do it again? Well, it's probably going to take a better performance than what we saw last time out against Georgetown. Yes, the Hoyas played their part in drubbing the Golden Eagles 3-0, but it certainly looked like Marquette was trying to drag Georgetown to hell in that match….. right up until GU scored 17 minutes in and then MU didn't have any idea what to do. That's been a problem regularly this year, with Marquette getting outshot in six of their eight matches. That hasn't particularly hurt Marquette yet, at least not terribly, as they're 5-2-1 overall with the losses coming against ranked opponents anyway. Part of "it hasn't hurt yet" is because Tomiwa Adewumi has scored eight goals on just 15 shots this season. You will, of course, not be surprised to find out that he was held without a shot in 66 minutes against Georgetown.

What's the plan from head coach David Korn and his staff to keep the Cup on Marquette's campus for another year? Guess we'll have to tune in on Tuesday and find out.

Match #9: vs Milwaukee Panthers (4-3-2, 2-1-0 Horizon League)

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026 Time: 6pm Central Location: Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Streaming: ESPN+ Live Stats: Stat Broadcast Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle

A three match winning streak, including a pair of W's in Horizon League play, has turned around Milwaukee's record on the season so far. After a 3-2 loss to Wright State to start off conference action, the Panthers had dropped to just 1-3-2, and they had been shutout in three of those matches, two losses and a scoreless draw with Southern Indiana in their opener. Those two recent HL wins are great news for Milwaukee, as they were picked to finish sixth in the conference this season, but that comes at a price. Yes, they beat a Northern Illinois team that was picked third last time out…. but that Wright State loss? Yeah, the Raiders were picked to finish last. A mixed bag, perhaps.

The Panthers are about even with their opponents overall in terms of goals this season, 10 for and nine against. They're even in shots as well, 120 to 117 overall, so nearly dead even in average at about 13 attempts per contest. Milwaukee's biggest problem has been shot selection, or at the very least accuracy. They're only putting 35% of shots on frame, while their opponents are up over 40%. That tilts the advantage towards the opponent at least in terms of quality chances, but again: Slim lead at putting it in the net.

There are eight different goal scorers for UWM so far this year, with Jack Wagner and Praise Ogwu coming in as the only guys with two goals. Wagner has the team lead in points at five as he has an assist as well. The junior defender from Delafield has scored both goals in Horizon League play, including finding the net last time out against NIU for the opening goal less than eight minutes in. While those two are the most successful players in terms of scoring, Roy Nozawa is the guy that's leading Milwaukee's attack in shots with 17. Nozawa has only started three matches this season, and he's played less than 25 minutes in each of the last two matches for the Panthers. Keeping an eye out for him subbing in will be a key detail for Marquette's defense.

As for Milwaukee's defense, Filip Dostanic and Carson Pridie have split the goalkeeping duties right down the middle as much as you can with nine matches in the books. It seems likely that Marquette will get Pridie on Tuesday night, as he's started the last three and five of the last six. On top of that, he's also the better netminder in terms of stats. He's allowing just 0.80 goals per 90 minutes and stopping 85% of shots on frame. Dostanic isn't too bad on save percentage at .750, but his goals-against average is way up at 1.25. If head coach Kris Kelderman is devoted to what direction he's been going lately, then sticking with Pridie is the obvious choice.

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