It might be hard imagining a coach happy after a 12-0 defeat, but men's club lacrosse coach Sidney Jones certainly did not seem as if he was about to lose any sleep over his team's 12-0 loss to Minnesota Saturday at Valley Fields.

"I think that we played better today than we've ever played," Jones said. That reaction was a far cry from his displeasure Friday night after Marquette lost, 16-5, to Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Marquette, which let in three quick goals at the beginning of the first quarter against UWSP, controlled the ball for the first three minutes of the first quarter against Minnesota. That possession marked the last time Marquette controlled the ball for any long stretch of time.

Senior goalie Tim Boraca made a pair of nice saves in the first seven minutes of the quarter to keep the score 0-0.

Minnesota broke the game open with four goals in the last four minutes of the first quarter. Minnesota attackman Andrew Haugen capped the scoring when he scored from a yard outside of the crease with 31 seconds left in the quarter.

Boraca recorded 10 saves in the game, literally using his head to stop one point blank shot and employing kick saves on three other shots.

"I was seeing the ball great today," he said afterward.

He also credited the team's defense as a whole.

"My defense played great in front of me," he said. "They helped keep shots on me down."

Minnesota poured in eight more goals over the course of the game, but the score might have been far more lopsided were it not for the play of the defense.

"Our defense was absolutely amazing today," Jones said.

Marquette struggled on offense, dropping passes and rarely getting shots on goal, which were easily handled by Minnesota goalie Aaron Wilson.

"Your guys can only run so long," Boraca said. "We kept up for a while, but eventually our legs were just dead."

The loss to UWSP was a much more bitter pill to swallow.

The Pointers scored the first three goals in the first quarter while dominating the possession, but Marquette rallied after scoring twice. The second goal came on a man-up situation when junior midfielder Matt Green scored from 10 yards out with 49 seconds left in the quarter. Marquette only scored three more times in the game.

UWSP simply looked quicker getting to ground balls and was better at controlling the ball.

"They hustled more than us," Jones said. "They wanted this game more than we did."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 12 2005.