The result of the Marquette men’s soccer game against Bucknell had coach Louis Bennett rubbing his eyes in disbelief on the sidelines.
The 2-1 double overtime defeat at the hands of the Bison was almost too much for a Golden Eagles team that clawed its way back from a goal down to equalize in the 87th minute. The Tuesday game was the sixth double overtime game for the Golden Eagles this season, and so far the team has earned only six points out of a possible 18.
“We didn’t play our best, that’s for sure,” goalkeeper Keenan Flynn said. “We fought hard, we came back from 1-0 down. But we’ll just use this as a learning experience for the younger guys and myself for the future.”
Marquette out shot the Bison 15-10, but that could not prevent the Golden Eagles from going down in the 64th minute.
“Leading up to our first goal, I think we did have pressure on them,” freshman Andrew Krynski said. “After the goal, I think we let up a bit.”
But the Golden Eagles are going to have to move on from the defeat as they play Georgetown in two days at Valley Fields. The Hoyas are currently sitting in second place in the Big East Blue Division and boast a 5-2 record in the Big East. Bennett says he will use the Bucknell game as an example for what not to do against the Hoyas.
“We can only use this as motivation to flat out play,” he said. “Georgetown is going to be a battle.”
Georgetown is led by Seth C’deBaca who is first in points and shots with 10 and 37, respectively, and second in goals and assists with three each. Georgetown is coming into this game after a 2-1 loss against defending NCAA Champions Maryland.
But Flynn, who took over for mainstay Matt Pyzdrowski against Bucknell, believes the Golden Eagles have proved this season that they have what it takes to beat the Hoyas.
“We didn’t put in our best performance (against Bucknell), but we got a goal on a really good team,” Flynn said. “Against Georgetown we will have more motivation to play better and put more goals in, because even though we played poorly we were still in the game.”
The Saturday game against Georgetown is also important, because a win would greatly increase the team’s chances of qualifying for the Big East Tournament. Even after the loss to Bucknell, the Golden Eagles remain third from the bottom of the Blue Division standings. A win against Georgetown would surely put them in strong contention. Krynski said that he definitely believes the team is still in the running for its first bid for the Big East Tournament under Bennett.
But even Bennett realizes that the team needs to improve its play before it takes on Georgetown this weekend.
“We have to tighten up the game and make sure that we don’t give the ball away so easily,” Bennett said. “We’re almost trying to be too careful. We need to flow.”
