That same old broken record was spinning again Saturday night at Valley Fields, as the Golden Eagles were playing their version of Rob Thomas' single "This is How a Heart Breaks."

Playing tough defense throughout the match versus the Georgetown Hoyas, Marquette (5-8-1, 1-6-1) misfired on a multitude of scoring opportunities and lost 1-0.

This came three days after suffering a 3-0 defeat to the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, a match that was much closer than the score would indicate.

Holding true to recent form, the Golden Eagles outshot their opponent Saturday night, but failed to yield results.

"Nothing stopped us; we just didn't finish the chances," said head coach Steve Adlard. "We actually had an open goal twice and put (the shots) wide, so it's just us. We're not ruthless enough, not clinical enough in front of (the) goal."

One minute into the game, junior forward Ryan Nikchevich crossed a pass to a sliding Dan Addis right in front of the Georgetown goal. The freshman forward couldn't get enough force on the ball, though, and it rolled right into the arms of Hoyas goalkeeper Andrew Keszler.

Fifteen minutes later, senior midfielder Blair Kohlmeyer directed a pass toward a diving Nikchevich, who headed the ball from five yards out just wide right of the goal.

"The dew on the field made it a little slick, but I thought that worked to our advantage," Kohlmeyer said. "We had the ball the whole time. It's just that I couldn't put the ball in the net, and my team couldn't put the ball in the net."

Georgetown, however, did put the ball in the net.

With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Hoya forward Dan Grasso gained possession of the ball inside the Marquette box.

Grasso took the ball out of the box but turned and quickly fired a shot that sailed over sophomore goalkeeper Steven Grow's outstretched arms.

Forty seconds later, Hoya midfielder Ben Jefferson-Dow earned a straight-red card for sliding cleats-up into freshman midfielder Mike Klemm.

The Golden Eagles played the rest of the match with a one-man advantage. Alas, all the advantage did in the end was exacerbate the feeling of disappointment.

"Georgetown wasn't doing anything (on defense). They're lucky to get out with a win," Kohlmeyer said. "It's a conference game that we really needed (to win). We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities."

Showing improvement from the beginning of the season, the Golden Eagles now at least are putting themselves in a position to score. The late-season maladies seem to reveal a certain intangible that the men's team lacks.

"The possession, the efficiency, the effort; all those things were great," Adlard said. "It's just finishing, and you don't teach finishing. You refine how you get to that point."

Finishing wasn't an issue for the Golden Eagles on Wednesday, because a crucial series of events early in the match prevented Marquette from even getting started.

Fifteen minutes in the game, Kohlmeyer raced into the Badgers box to receive a pass and knocked in a goal to give Marquette the lead.

Or so he thought. The goal was called back on an offside penalty.

Sophomore defender Mike Carlsonwas called for a penalty inside the Golden Eagles' box just 15 seconds later.

Badgers forward Victor Diaz easily put the penalty kick past Grow, posing a setback from which Marquette would never recover.

Wisconsin scored two more goals late in the second half after the Golden Eagles had begun pressing more players up-field on the offensive attack.

"We were playing catch-up. We had more offense than they did, especially in the second half," Adlard said after Wednesday's match. "We created opportunities. We just need someone with good instincts on the end of it."

As the final whistle blew Saturday night, junior midfielder Bryan Dahlquist sunk to his knees and put his face in the grass, the junior midfielder covering his head with his hands.

"We've got to learn how to win a game. We don't really know how to win a game yet," Dahlquist said. "We've got to close those simple little chances that we get."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 25, 2005.