The Marquette men’s club soccer team started its season off on the wrong foot, losing 4-1 to Northern Michigan. The loss is unfortunate for a team with serious aspirations to qualify for the Regional Tournament in Indiana.

“Sadly, we are 0-1 after our first weekend of the season,” said Grant White, the men’s club soccer president. “We had a road trip and we were slightly short-handed in terms of guys, so it didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped.

“Our record should only improve from here on out though since we won’t have any more problems like that,” White said. “Guys will have more time to plan and prepare for games and events as we get past the first couple weeks of school.”

The team is composed of 23 players, evenly balanced between new and returning players, but it looks to be much more explosive than last year’s team.

“I think overall we have more attacking options and will look to take games to the other team more than we did last year,” White said. “We are expecting to make it to regionals and we are definitely conference title contenders.”

Senior Michael Hanna has been a part of the club since its inception in 2007 and shares those high expectations.

“I think the biggest change since the club’s inception has been the seriousness with which we’ve approached our games and practices,” Hanna said.

“Two years ago, we were simply searching for enough interested players to allow for the creation of a team. This year we have our sights set on not only going to Indiana for regionals, but also Arizona for nationals.”

Fellow senior and three-year player Marcus Kuhnert believes Marquette could be a truly great team this year.

“With a full squad, we should be able to beat any team in our league,” Kuhnert said.

Marquette will host Eau Claire this Saturday at 7 p.m. and Stevens Point on Sunday at 10 a.m. at Valley Fields.