Marquette Men’s Soccer Got Clonked By Connecticut

Ben Awashie scored the only run of play of goal in Wednesday night’s Marquette/Connecticut men’s soccer contest, and so that was the difference in the 2-1 match after two penalty kicks in the final 10 minutes cancelled each other out. Marquette is now 5-6-1 overall and just 2-3-1 in Big East action after starting the year as a nationally ranked program. The Golden Eagles are tied for fifth in the conference standings after the loss.

Let’s cut to the important part. Here’s how Connecticut scored the only non-penalty kick goal of the game in the 36th minute.

A bit unlucky for Marquette and keeper Chandler Hallwood, but such is life.

Marquette’s real problem in this match? One first half shot. It came in the 30th minute, and freshman Edrey Caceres hit the crossbar. UConn only managed five shots in the first half, which you would think is a pretty manageable situation for MU’s defense.... but four of them were on frame with three turning up as Hallwood saves. Marquette was honestly clinging to life to a certain extent after 45 minutes.

MU managed to outshoot the Huskies in the second half and did put two shots on goal in the 25 minutes of the period. Both were saved by UConn keeper Jahmali Waite, which set the table for the Huskies to take a 2-0 lead on a Moussa Wade penalty kick in the 82nd minute when Alex Mirsberger was whistled for a tackling foul on the very outside left edge of the box.

The referee saw fit to award a penalty in the other direction less than two minutes later, and Lukas Sunesson buried it for his sixth goal of the year. Marquette would put the pressure on for the final seven minutes, but all they came away with was an offsides call, two corner kicks, and an 89th minute shot by Beto Soto that was stopped by Waite.

The real bummer of the whole deal? This was UConn’s first Big East win in five tries this season. In theory, this was a chance for Marquette to solidify their spot in the conference standings, and only DePaul taking a 1-0 loss to equally hapless Seton Hall helped the Golden Eagles stay in the middle of the table on this night.

Up Next: Well, well, well. Those same Blue Demons with those same problems from Wednesday night come to Milwaukee on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 7pm Central at Valley Fields as the Golden Eagles look to snag three points and push into fifth place by themselves.