Moral victories are hard to find in a close loss to a Top 10 team.

Just ask the men's soccer team.

The Golden Eagles fell to the 10th-ranked St. John's Red Storm 1-0 Sunday, after opening Big East play with a 1-1 tie against the Syracuse Orange on Friday.

Despite a gritty defensive effort, Marquette could not hold off a Red Storm team that has never lost a home game during the regular season.

"It was just one momentary defensive lapse that got us," head coach Steve Adlard said."The guys feel terrible because they were so close."

That lapse occurred in the 68th minute when a nice defensive stop turned into a mad scramble deep in Golden Eagles' territory.

Junior midfielder Rob Walton stole the ball from a St. John's forward and quickly turned to make a pass to sophomore defender Mike Carlson.

However, the ball never made it to Carlson, as another St. John's striker intercepted the pass and proceeded down the left sideline.

The ball was crossed to the center of the field where Red Storm forward Gary Lewis drilled a shot into a sliding Nathan Sabich.

Sabich, a junior defender, could only watch from the ground as Lewis collected the ball off the ricochet and launched a shot past sophomore goalkeeper Andy Kroll.

"It's a horrible way to lose off one person's mistake," Sabich said. "It's really frustrating. You make one mistake against St. John's, and they'll capitalize on it."

According to the box score, the Golden Eagles recorded no shots on goal and only three shots total throughout the entire match.

Statistics did not account for the string of strong attacks Marquette ran on the Red Storm as the game clock wound down.

On one raid inside St. John's box, three Golden Eagles tried to force the ball into the net to no avail.

"We created a lot of pressure late in the game," Adlard said. "We have to create extended periods of pressure, and we didn't do that much in the first half."

No matter how close the match, no matter how talented the foe, the Golden Eagles take no solace in losing to any opponent.

"That's not what we're here to do," Carlson said of claiming moral victories. "We're here to win games and get the best record we can."

That record, now 3-2-1, took a slight hit this weekend, though the Golden Eagles felt confident coming off a 1-1 tie with Syracuse.

Marquette played tentatively to start its first game in a new conference.

"Some of the guys were nervous," said freshman forward Duncan Silvert-Noftle. "We knew we had a good chance of winning, but there was definitely more tension with it being our first Big East game."

After allowing a goal in the 20th minute by Orange forward Pete Rowley, the Golden Eagles' defense put the clamps down on Syracuse's offense.

For the rest of the match, it was Marquette putting the squeeze on the Orange.

Late in the second half, Sabich one-touched a pass to senior midfielder Blair Kohlmeyer.

Kohlmeyer was fouled but quickly got up and shot a low, bending ball to a charging Silvert-Noftle.

Silvert-Noftle redirected the ball toward the far post, beyond the reach of Syracuse goalkeeper Robert Cavicchia.

The score remained 1-1 at the end of regulation, but the Golden Eagles kept charging in overtime.

Freshman midfielder Jamie Zarse led a Marquette attack that outshot the Orange 3-1 in extended play.

Zarse hit the crossbar on a shot attempt, marking the Golden Eagles best chance to put the game away.

"We created some goal-scoring opportunities in overtime," Adlard said. Syracuse "never had a clear-cut chance to score, but we didn't finish them."

While the Big East did not role out a welcome mat for the Golden Eagles, the men's soccer team now knows they have what it takes to compete in their new conference.

"We have the skill to beat any team in the Big East," Sabich said. "We just have to put all the pieces together."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 20, 2005.