After the 3-0 defeat to professional team NSC Minnesota, the Marquette men’s soccer team plays in-state rivals Wisconsin-Parkside and Wisconsin-Whitewater in a double-header exhibition Saturday at Valley Fields.
“They were a very good team,” sophomore midfielder Scott Miller said of NSC Minnesota. “They had two very good finishes. … We played very well but we lost our way in the last 15 (minutes), which was a little disappointing because we would have liked to keep up the intensity and our defensive shape.”
While the team needs to move past the defeat, sophomore defender Michael Alfano will look to learn from how the opposition played and improve on Marquette’s own play this weekend.
“Just their style of play,” Alfano said. “A lot of what they did is what we look to do: hold the ball, cover the gaps and finishing opportunities. They didn’t have that many shots on goal and that many opportunities but what they did, they did real well.”
So far, Marquette is 1-1 in official exhibition play this spring. This double-header kicks off a 10-game home run for the Golden Eagles, who are gearing up for the 2010 season.
Miller added that even though these games do not count for Big East points, the team still wants to win every time they walk out on the field and enjoy the same excitement when they win. But he said the spring season is a different learning process.
“There’s definitely things about the spring that are more about learning and guys finding themselves and finding what they need to work on, not only during the games, but each day,” he said.
Against UW-Parkside and UW-Whitewater, Marquette is planning on playing two 90-minute regulation games, which may prove problematic for a squad already hindered by a number of injuries to key players — like junior midfielder Matt Stummer and junior forward Anthony Colaizzi — who may make an appearance this weekend. But Alfano is confident in the players that are fit for the weekend.
“Most of us are in pretty good shape, but playing two 90-minute games is going to be a challenge and a test on our mental strength,” Alfano said. “We can all run for 90 minutes, it’s just whether we can get through the road block that’s going to be there and not make mistakes due to mental error or exhaustion.”
Assistant coach Stan Anderson will be looking to Alfano and Miller to lead the team on Saturday after their impressive performances against NSC Minnesota.
“Miller and Alfano were very, very good,” Anderson said. “Alfano was an asset to us on (Saturday) … He combined a lot of his talents into that game and put them all together.”
One of the Golden Eagles’ assets in the spring season is their confidence both in the locker room and on the field.
“Guys look around and there’s a sense of accountability,” Miller said. “We all put our time in, and we’ve all worked extremely hard on what we’ve done, and everybody knows that whether it’s in training or in a game, you’re going to get 100 percent from a guy.”
