Marquette managed three shots in the final 11 minutes, including one on goal by senior midfielder Matt Darby with seven seconds left, but it wasn’t enough.

“It was a case our our missed opportunities against their taking advantage of one mistake,” assistant coach Barry Bimbi said. “They just got the one chance.”

With the loss, Marquette falls to 7-7-1 overall and 4-2-1 in Conference USA. Louisville, which has not lost in its last five matches, improves to 10-5-1 and 5-2-1 in the conference.

Senior forward Derek Gutierrez, who fired two shots in the game, said the Golden Eagles expected more of their performance in the important conference tilt. Prior to Wednesday’s contest, Marquette, Louisville and St. Louis were locked in a three-way tie atop C-USA with the conference schedule winding down.

“I’m really disappointed,” he said. “We had an attitude that we would go out there and win. It’s almost like a letdown for ourselves because we felt like we were the better team and we should go out there and win it against them and we didn’t. We’ve got to win the rest of our conference games.”

Along with Louisville, Marquette had its chances to score. The Golden Eagles rattled off 18 shots to Louisville’s 16, but each team had difficulties with accuracy. Of their 18 shots, the Golden Eagles only put seven on goal — all of which were saved by Louisville goalkeeper Brad Sokolowski on the way to his seventh shutout of the season – while the Cardinals managed six.

“We just didn’t convert, which is just so tough when you create opportunities and you just don’t finish,” Gutierrez said.

Though they are 6-1 at home, the Golden Eagles’ only victory away from Valley Fields came against Denver at a neutral site in the first game of the season. Since then, they have complied a 0-6-1 record when visiting their opponents.

Gutierrez, one of three team captains, said he and the team are very aware of their road problems.

“The lack of winning on the road has killed us this year,” he said. “Games like this, (the 3-2 loss at) UAB … we’ve been in every game. I don’t know why we haven’t been able to sneak out a win. Good teams win road games. I feel like we’re a good team but I don’t know why we haven’t crossed that hump and won that crucial road game yet.”

The Golden Eagles return to action against intrastate foe Wisconsin-Green Bay (2-9-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Valley Fields.