Block embraces new role on MU soccer team

The woman who scored the most goals in the history of the Grafton High School girls’ soccer program is being asked to do the opposite this season at Marquette University.

Hailey Block, a senior who has two years of eligibility left due to Covid-19, has been moved from offense to center back, essentially the leader of the defense and the last defender before the keeper.

“You have to be a leader on the field, always communicating. You see the whole field in front of you — what a forward or outside mid doesn’t see,” Block said.

“You have to distribute the ball accurately; otherwise it’s a turnover and it’s coming right back to you.”

The Golden Eagles’ two center backs last season graduated, and the team wanted some experience on defense.

Block is OK with the change.

“If it gets me on the field, I love it,” she said. “Who doesn’t love a good challenge? Just one more thing I have to work on.”

This is Block’s third year at Marquette — the first was shortened and moved from fall to spring due to the pandemic — after spending one season as a standout freshman at Missouri State University in Springfield.

Attending classes online from Grafton during the pandemic inspired her to transfer to a school closer to home. Marquette was a perfect choice.

“I’m super glad. I love being close to home. I know my family’s always there for me,” she said.

“It’s super exciting to be playing on the home field with my parents in the stands.”

Her former club team, North Shore United, comes to see her play as well.

She loves the high-quality grass field at Valley Fields. It’s one of the only natural surfaces in the Big East Conference.

“If it’s a really good grass field like we have, I’ll take that any day over turf,” Block said.

During summer, Block worked as a rehabilitation aide at Aurora Health Center in Mequon and at the deli at local Piggly Wiggly.

She enjoyed living at home for a few months.

“It was nice to get some laundry done and some food in my stomach,” she said.

She spent time with her family and Messi, the Blocks’ 4-year-old Dalmatian who is named after the legendary soccer player Lionel Messi. The 60-pound creature is “super energetic,” Block said of the dog. “I take him on a lot of runs during winter. In summer, it’s too hot to run for him.”

She also played with Milwaukee’s Bavarian Soccer Club, which has a team in the Women’s Premier Soccer League. Players come from colleges across the Midwest and for several weeks turn from opponents during the college season into teammates.

“You see them as competitors all the time,” Block said, then she realizes, “‘Wait, you guys are super nice.’”

Soccer practice started Aug. 1, which Block said is funny because Aug. 2 is her birthday, and she turned 21 this year.

“It was kind of a blah celebration,” she said.

Given she had to practice, there was no waking up the next morning not feeling so well as many other people 21 years and one day old experience.

“Not at all,” Block said. “I guess we’ll have to celebrate a couple of months from now.”

The Golden Eagles played their first preseason game on Sunday, losing 3-0 at home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Given the rivalry between the schools, the game carried midseason intensity.

“It did not seem like an exhibition game at all. It’s always pretty serious,” Block said.

“It was good to start the season off with a hard game. Obviously, it would have been super nice to beat them.”

A couple of those Bavarian Club teammates from summer turned back into foes.

“You have to smile and congratulate them on a good game,” Block said.

Block is majoring in exercise physiology and wants to be a physical therapist. She was named to the Big East All-Academic Team last year.

She was recently accepted into the Marquette Physical Therapy Program. She may play soccer during her final year of eligibility and her first year of grad school.

She has another three years of school to become a physical therapist.

“We are doctors. People definitely overlook it,” she said.

Block was not overlooked on the field last year. She scored a game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over Seton Hall on Oct. 3.

The Golden Eagles went 9-8 overall and 5-5 in the Big East.

The sights are set higher this season.

“I’m hoping we make it to the Big East Tournament. We just missed last year,” Block said. “That would be a huge goal for our team to do that.”

Marquette was to play an exhibition game Aug. 10 against Purdue. It starts the regular season Aug. 18 at Notre Dame.

At Grafton High, Block scored 94 career goals.