There have been times during this 2-9-1 season that the young Golden Eagles have displayed a better grasp of second-year head coach Louis Bennett's system, but those times have been too scattered to make much difference.,”In theory, one could say the Marquette men's soccer team has played twice as well through 12 games of the 2007 season than it did during all of 2006.

Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, doubling the win total from a 1-15-1 season doesn't say much.

There have been times during this 2-9-1 season that the young Golden Eagles have displayed a better grasp of second-year head coach Louis Bennett's system, but those times have been too scattered to make much difference. The team won its first Big East game under Bennett, but own just a 1-6 conference record. Pittsburgh is the lone team with a worse conference record in the Big East.

Compare that to what Bennett said in preseason about this year's team with almost the exact same record: "We've put people in the roles and responsibilities that should be in those roles."

Before last season, Bennett said he was wanted to change the soccer culture at Marquette. "I want people to recognize what style we're playing," he said. "What Marquette soccer is about—transition and excitement."

If that culture is changing, it is changing slowly. Bennett has reiterated that idea throughout the 2007 season. "I've always sung a song of exciting, attacking soccer," he said in preseason. "And that's what we've tried to do."

Bennett acknowledged the Golden Eagles haven't achieved the greatest results this season and attributed Marquette's record to the slow nature of building a team.

"Have we moved toward our goal? Yes we have," Bennett said. "Are we close to it? No, not really.

"We are slowly, slowly moving toward our goal," he added. "It may look like some of the same results, and we may be saying some of the same things, but the issue is in some of the games we're just not good enough."

Sophomore goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski said that if the coaching staff is repeating themselves, it's only because the team hasn't quite reached the goals it set last season. Associate head coach Stan Anderson said he felt like Marquette has made more subtle improvements this season.

"We've become more competitive this year with these guys in this environment," Anderson said. "I don't think it's a revisit of last year to be quite honest."

And despite the team's record, both Bennett and Anderson emphasized that this year's team still has a chance to create a "very special" season.

"We've still got a great opportunity to make the Big East tournament," he said. "We need to win at least three or four Big East game to get into the tournament."

If that sounds familiar, it's because the quote is rather close to what Bennett said after his team started 1-7-1 (0-4 Big East) last season.

"We can still win … we haven't played a (Big East) divisional game yet," Bennett said then.

From that point on, the team went 0-8.

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