To say tonight’s loss to the Buffalo Bulls was disappointing would be an understatement for the Marquette men’s soccer team.
“It’s not disappointing, it’s bitterly disappointing,” coach Louis Bennett said.
“We probably had 30 set pieces but just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the goal.”
The Golden Eagles suffered a 4-0 defeat despite a plethora of scoring chances. Marquette had their fair share of opportunities, but, as Bennett said, were unable to finish a single one.
“During practice, we’re putting the ball in the back of the goal like it’s going out of fashion,” Bennett said. “From a tactical point there’s not much more you can do.”
The Golden Eagles were awarded 19 corner kicks and took a season-high 19 shots, but to no avail. Sophomore midfielder Calum Mallace fired six shots of his own, blasting one off the post halfway through the first half.
“We played really well as a team in the first half, but unfortunately went down 1-0,” Mallace said.
The Bulls took the lead in the 17th minute when they took advantage of a set piece from about 30 yards out. Buffalo midfielder Rich Wilson headed one into the lower left corner of Marquette’s goal, just out of goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski’s reach.
At halftime, the Golden Eagles trailed 1-0 but led 12-1 in shots.
“We practice corners and shots on goal every day at practice it just didn’t go our way tonight,” sophomore midfielder Amilcar Herrera said. “We’re going to have to learn from this one.”
The Bulls took advantage of Marquette’s inability to score, by doing some damage of their own. Buffalo went on to tally three second-half goals, bringing the home crowd to an absolute hush.
“It’s embarrassing for us,” Bennett said. “A 4-0 loss at Valley Fields is just not acceptable. This is not by any means the worst we’ve played. We were given opportunities to score, we’re just not doing it.”
At one point, Buffalo had taken three shots and earned a goal on each attempt. They tallied goals in the 57th, 63rd and 87th minute to put away the Golden Eagles and move its record to 2-1.
“We looked by far the better team,” Bennett said. “It’s embarrassing for us to go out like this.” Mallace says the team has no excuses for tonight’s game, and must move forward from here.
“The only stat that really matters is goals and we had zero so we have no one to blame except for ourselves,” he said. “We need to mentally and physically prepare for our next game now against No. 9 Irvine.”
Herrera, who recorded two shots on the night, knows the team is better than tonight’s result, and Sunday’s match against No. 9 California-Irvine will be the proof.
“We’ll try to do a better job Sunday and just put the ball in the back of the net,” Herrera said. “We have to concentrate on our game plan and just do what we do and we’ll be fine.”
