The Marquette Invitational kicks off tomorrow at Valley Fields, where the men’s soccer team will play host to Buffalo and on Sunday No. 9 California-Irvine in an attempt to put its season back on track.
After a thrilling 1-0 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee to start the year, the Golden Eagles fell to Drake 2-0 in Des Moines last Sunday.
“Drake’s behind us now,” sophomore forward Calum Mallace said. “We’re just looking forward. We’re going to play together as a team and come away with a victory.”
Mallace currently leads the Golden Eagles this season with one goal and six shots in two games and also leads the team in points with two so far. Mallace said once the team starts scoring, they won’t stop.
“I think we need to just settle down and play (the game) the way we do on the training field,” he said.
The Golden Eagles could only manage two 0-0 draws in last year’s edition of the Marquette Invitational against Pennsylvania and Columbia, and after winning the Milwaukee Cup this season, the team is looking to add to its trophy cabinet .
“Our biggest challenge is playing back-to-back games with a consistency and the intensity that will allow us to stay in the game and will allow us to win the game,” coach Louis Bennett said.
The next two games are vital for the Golden Eagles, not only to boost their record, but also because they are the final games before Marquette begins its Big East season against South Florida on Sept. 18.
“You can only tinker with the squad so much,” Bennett said. “It will be our last opportunity to really solidify who’s ready and performing well and who needs a little bit more time. The Drake game put us upside down because we thought we had some things established and they weren’t quite as solid as we thought.”
Bennett has never been on the winning side against a nationally ranked opponent while at Marquette’s helm and the Golden Eagles will look to end that streak against UC-Irvine. The last time Marquette beat a ranked team was back on Sept. 4, 2005 when it beat No. 23 Penn State.
However, Bennett is not afraid of the rankings.
“Look at our schedule,” Bennett said. “I think there are seven ranked opponents and I think four or five of them are from the Big East. The fact is they are a team that everybody thinks will win. We have to prove to them that they can’t beat us. It’s just a test.”
UC-Irvine enters the competition with an undefeated record of 3-0-0, while Buffalo stands at 1-1-0 so far. Buffalo’s sole victory came against Pittsburgh, a team Marquette has failed to beat in over four years of Big East competition. However, Buffalo’s loss was against another one of Marquette’s Big East nemeses, West Virginia, which narrowly beat the Bulls in double overtime.
But even with two games in three days, sophomore Paul Monsen, who has been a necessity for the Golden Eagles on defense, isn’t fazed.
“You get one over with, and you’re a little sore,” he said,” but you (put on) some ice packs, you stretch and you roll out of training and you’re out for the next game.”
