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A look inside the busy lives of women’s soccer players Cate Downs and Julia O’Neill

Senior forward Julia O’Neill boasts a cumulative 4.0 GPA while also juggling the workload of being a collegiate athlete. (Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics.)

As of the 2024 spring semester, only 5 out of 321 student-athletes at Marquette hold a cumulative 4.0 GPA while also being at least a junior. Senior forward Julia O’Neill and junior midfielder Cate Downs, both on the Marquette women’s soccer team, are two of them.

“It’s pretty rare,” assistant director for academic services Maureen Lewis said. “We have had it happen before, but it’s rare to have two on the same team with two different majors.