The Golden Eagles played to a 0-0 double overtime draw against No.,”With its chances of making the Big East Tournament dangerously close to disappearing, the Marquette men's soccer team picked a good time to earn its first points against a ranked opponent under head coach Louis Bennett.

The Golden Eagles played to a 0-0 double overtime draw against No. 20 West Virginia (9-5-1, 5-3-1 Big East) in a game that Bennett said included "the good, the bad and the ugly."

"We were just hanging in there," Bennett said. "In the overtime, my concern was not about the win. Even though the fans' concerns are about the win, I told the players my concern was how they were going to react in a pressure situation against a Top 25 team.

"I thought they absorbed the pressure, but it was ugly," he said.

Marquette (2-10-3, 1-7-1) created two of the best scoring opportunities of the game in the first half. Ten minutes into the game, Tim Jallow went streaking down the right sideline and found himself all alone after a receiving a pass from junior Dan Addis. However, Jallow's resulting crossing pass bounced untouched through the West Virginia box.

After that, the Golden Eagles couldn't muster much activity on the offensive end. In fact, Marquette didn't register a single shot over the game's final 65 minutes.

In the 78th minute, Addis illustrated a theme that would become common for Marquette. He outran the Mountaineer defense down the left sideline and found himself alone in the corner of the field but failed to fire a crossing pass in the direction of the goal. Freshman Anthony Colaizzi made the exact same run one minute later and met the same fate.

"We're a crossing and finishing team, that's what we like to do best," Colaizzi said. "We've been struggling to get that final pass, but eventually it'll come together. I don't think West Virginia did anything in particular, it's just the timing."

West Virginia had little difficulty creating chances, registering seven shots on goal. Bennett said sophomore goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski made a few questionable decisions playing balls in front of the Marquette net, but any poor decision-making was erased with several diving saves that preserved the shut out.

"I told Pyzdrowski that it didn't always look pretty, but he was effective," Bennett said. "I'd rather him make those errors and get some confidence."

But the Golden Eagles' strength on Wednesday night came from the defense. Sophomore Tim Jallow had to slide into a middle defender position, a spot he has not filled yet this season. Still, freshman Scott Miller said the defense performed as well as it has all season.

"We just tried to keep (the defense) really compact and push up," he said. "That was a huge part of our success … we just wanted to stay compact, and we carried out our game plan."

So, for one more game at least, Marquette held onto its chance at playing meaningful games in November. The Golden Eagles will face Connecticut (13-2-1, 6-2-1) in Storrs, Conn. on Saturday.

"It's a huge step for us," Miller said. "That's what we've been working toward. The wins and losses just haven't shown it."

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