Marquette men’s soccer earned its first Big East Conference victory of the season Friday night when they defeated Cincinnati 1-0 in double overtime.

The game was Marquette’s Big East home opener and third consecutive victory over Cincinnati. Last year they won 2-1, and two years ago 1-0.

Friday’s game winning goal came from sophomore midfielder Callum Mallace on a direct free kick from the top of the box, 22 yards out, with just five seconds left in overtime. The kick went just inside the left post and past Cincinnati’s diving goalkeeper.

Mallace credited hard work, previous experiences and a little extra focus for the game winning goal.

“I scored a similar one the first game of the season against UWM (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee),” Mallace said. “I just blocked out everything else and pretended like I was on that practice field like I am everyday and put it where I wanted to. “

This was the team’s first shutout since its first victory of the season on Sept. 1 against UWM. Senior Defenseman Bill Von Rueden credited the shutout on the defense’s ability to stick to the game plan.

“We’re very disciplined in the back and we take pride in that,” Von Rueden said. “If we follow that recipe it’s going to be difficult for a lot of teams to score on us.”

Going into the game, Cincinnati was No. 1 in the Big East in goals scored, 16 in seven games, and second in goals per game with 2.5.

A big factor in the first half of the game was the rain-players were slipping and sliding all over the field. Mallace felt the rain didn’t favor anyone.

“In the rain your touch is going to be off, and you’re going to have to play quicker.” Mallace said. “I think we handled it pretty well. “

Bennett said tonight’s victory was extra valuable because Cincinnati is not a part of Marquette’s division in the Big East.

“Tonight’s points were bonus points,” Bennett said. “The more points we can get before we start playing in our division the better off we’ll be.”

While this victory was big, no one’s forgetting the game on Sunday.

“The next step is Louisville and that’s what we’re focusing on,” Van Rueden said. “We celebrate tonight, but tomorrow it’s another day and we have to focus on Louisville at that point.”