Throughout the sports landscape, women continue to break barriers. From athletes to coaches, refs and executives, the number of women in the industry is growing, and one of the fastest growing fields in the business is sports analytics.

Syracuse University has an all-female club that creates opportunities for women looking to get their foot in the door.

“Seeing it specifically grow in sports, a predominantly male field, it's really important, and it makes me feel hopeful about the future," said Marissa Schneider, the vice president of Syracuse University's Sport Analytics Women Club.

Since she was a child, Schneider has loved sports.

“When I was younger, I was always a really big hockey fan," she said. "Kind of just grew a love for the game and sports in general."

As a senior at Syracuse University, Schneider is studying sports analytics.

“When I was in high school, I had a math teacher that really impacted my view on math," Schneider said. "My brother actually went to Syracuse. He was a sports management major, and so I kind of found the program through that.”

The club strives to create opportunities for women in one of the fastest-growing fields in sports. Market research company Mordor Intelligence estimates the sports analytics market will be worth more than $10 billion in 2028, up from $2.2 billion this year.

“Interacting with the other females and then through guest speakers, hearing about different backgrounds and different professions that you can go into in sport analytics," she said. "It’s opened my mind to some other avenues in the analytics world.”

But why is analytics so prevalent?

“It's the idea of 'We’re going to be smarter, we’re going to generate wins in a more efficient way,'" said Jeremy Losak, a sport analytics assistant professor at Syracuse University.

That’s done by collecting and analyzing data. Some may recall the movie Moneyball when it comes to how analytics impacts sports on the field, but Losak said it's bigger than that.

“It’s ticket-pricing and how concession stands are managed and sponsorship deals. And all of these other areas of sport that are being guided by analytics," he said.

According to the Sports Business Journal, female sport analytics representation ranges from 15 to 24% across the Big Four North American professional sports leagues.

“There’s still more work to be done, but progress is being made," Losak said.

"Those numbers are just gonna grow from here," said Schneider.

After graduation, Schneider hopes to work in business analytics.

“I was personally scared of being in a male-dominated industry, especially coming into the major with not that many females," she said. "So myself being shy and scared about it, it's really cool that I can have that impact on other females.”