Wisconsin Soccer Central

Sophomore Kate Reigle (Brookfield East) had a goal and an assist as No. 12 Marquette blanked the University of Wisconsin 2-0 Saturday night at the McClimon Complex in the lone exhibition match for both women's teams.

Junior Lisa Philbin scored the opener, heading a cross from Reigle past Badgers senior goalkeeper Michele Dalton in the 26th minute. Reigle scored on a header of her own off a pass from freshman Haley Fritzlen in the 67th for the Golden Eagles, who play host to Western Michigan in a season opener Friday night at Valley Fields.

"We learned a lot about ourselves tonight and put together a nice performance," Marquette coach Markus Roeders said in a news release. "Wisconsin is a good team, and it ended up being an entertaining match. ... Today was a chance to improve, learn about us and compete against another team. We accomplished our goal but we have to get better. It's time to refine our game, get healthy and be 100 percent fresh for Friday night."

UW opens the season against top-ranked and defending national champion Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. Friday in South Bend, Ind.

"I think in the first half we didn't realize we were going to be in such a physical battle and I think it's a great and important start for us in terms of understanding the physicality we're going to need to bring," Badgers coach Paula Wilkins said in a news release. "I was pleased with the second half that we got a little bit better in terms of that and got some more people forward and played a little better after understanding the pressure.

"The biggest thing about playing Marquette is I wanted to deal with the physicality and the emotion that they bring. I think that was important because we need to have that tempo ready for when we play Notre Dame."

• Sophomore midfielder Alex Melin (Verona) scored as Iowa thumped Drake 6-0 in an exhibition match Saturday in Iowa City.
• UW-Milwaukee was picked to finish third in the Horizon League men's race behind defending champion Butler and Cleveland State. The Panthers, who received one first-place vote in voting by the nine conference coaches, tied for fifth in the league with a 4-4-0 record last season. "I think it's great to see that other teams in our league think we are going to be successful," second-year UWM coach Chris Whalley said in a news release. "Hopefully, we can live up to those expectations. It was nice to get a first-place vote as well, but ultimately, it is a preseason poll. It will be more important where we finish at the end of the season." UW-Green Bay, which was second last year with a 6-2-0 mark, tied Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago for fourth in the preseason voting.
• It turns out midfielder Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East) will conclude his career at UW-Green Bay. He had transferred to reigning NCAA champion Akron, but recently decided to return to UWGB and is eligible to play for the Phoenix. Walls, who made the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Great Lakes Region teams in 2009 and '10 and claimed All-Horizon honors each of the past three years, has 11 goals and seven assists in his career.