The Marquette men’s soccer team kicked off its season with a 1-0 win over cross-town rivals University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Valley Fields and retained the Milwaukee Cup. The game-winning goal came late in the second half from Callum Mallace off a free kick from 35 yards out. For the second year in a row, Mallace scored the go-ahead goal against the Panthers.

“It was a typical cross town battle,” coach Louis Bennett said. “It became not really a soccer game but a battle. I was really happy that it took an individual piece of brilliance like a free kick (to score). If you were wearing blue and gold then there’s no way you can’t think that wasn’t the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.”

Tuesday night’s game marked the 37^th meeting between the two schools with a 25-8-3 edge to Milwaukee. The rivalry between the two schools was felt immediately in the fourth minute when sophomore defender Paul Monsen and Panther midfielder Andrew Wiedabach got into a scuffle.

Four minutes later, Marquette registered their first chance on goal after sophomore Chris Madsen, who earned his first start as a Golden Eagle, slipped the ball across the face of goal to fellow forward Nick Kay who managed to send the ball into the waiting hands of the UWM goalkeeper.

Mallace had an two opportunities to score in the first half. The first came in the 26^th minute from a set piece from 20 yards away but the kick was re-directed by the hands fo the UWM goalkeeper. In the 40^th minute, midfielder Amilcar Herrera sent a free kick ball into the box which found the head of Mallace, who sent the ball just over the crossbar.

Overall, Marquette outshot the Panthers 6-3 in the first half and managed three more corner kicks than their opponents.

The second half proved to be a much scrappier game. By the final whistle, six yellow cards had been handed out; four to Marquette and two to UWM. However, the half clearly belonged to the Golden Eagles who outshot the Panthers 7-0, three of which were on goal. Marquette tallied five corner kicks in the first seven minutes of the half, but failed to convert any into the back of the net much to their frustration.

“It was a little bit of a back and forth game that was a bit sloppy at times,” captain Scott Miller said. “We lost our focus a little bit but we kept battling and we kept playing.”

In the 58^th minute, a controversial decision by the referee was awarded to Marquette after a UWM player appeared to be fouled inside the Marquette penalty box. However, referee Dave Jaworski waved off the penalty causing a shouting match from both benches.

But after 84 minutes, and what appeared to be a point shared by both camps, Marquette found the breakthrough they needed after Callum Mallace was taken down outside the box. From the spot, he fired the ball into the top left corner of the net just past the diving hands of the Panther keeper.

“I’ve played UWM twice in my career and I’ve scored two goals,” Mallace said. “You can’t ask for anything more. I had a couple of chances that I couldn’t put away. But I’ve been practicing all week. I figured if I can do it in practice then I can do it in a game.”