Marquette’s Hailey Block making hometown of Grafton proud on soccer field
GRAFTON, Wis. — Marquette midfielder Hailey Block grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Grafton, Wisconsin. She grew up in a soccer family and has a brother, Logan, who plays soccer at Division III St. Norbert College.
Grafton is 25 minutes away from Milwaukee and has a population under 12,000. As you can imagine, towns with populations under 12,000 people don’t always produce many Division I athletes, but nobody told Hailey that.
Hailey attended Grafton High School, a smaller high school with about 700 students. She was a legend on the Grafton soccer field and played four years of varsity soccer.
Hailey scored an impressive 17 goals with eight assists as a high school freshman. She was named the team’s offensive MVP and Second Team All-North Shore Conference. Her numbers only improved going into her sophomore year. She was the team captain and had 26 goals and eight assists. She was again named the team’s offensive MVP but was also First Team All-North Shore Conference and an all-state honorable mention.
Hailey also had impressive junior and senior seasons of high school soccer. She had 23 goals and five assists as a junior and was named team MVP, first team all-state, and first team all-conference. As a senior, she scored 28 times with five assists and was named the Journal Sentinel Player of the Year, first team all-state, and first team all-conference.
The soccer star finished high school with 94 goals and 26 assists and left as Grafton’s High School’s leading scorer.
She chose to play soccer at Division I Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) and became a starter as a freshman. She scored eight scores with one assist in over 1,000 minutes that season and was recognized for her strong play. She was named the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Freshman of the Year, an OVC second-team selection, and to the all-newcomer team.
SEMO was not the correct fit for Hailey, so she transferred to Marquette. Her role at Marquette was more reduced than at SEMO, but she was still an essential part of the team. She played in eight games, mainly off the bench, in her first season at Marquette. Unfortunately, the season was shortened because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hailey scored two goals with one assist but played many minutes off the bench.
Marquette’s 2021 season ended in October. Hailey played many minutes off the bench again and scored one goal and one assist. Her one goal was a game-winner against Seton Hall.
It remains to be seen what Hailey’s future holds, but she is undoubtedly making her hometown proud.
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