In a 2-0 victory over Wright State (4-7-1) Wednesday night at Valley Fields, Marquette (4-3-3) extended its unbeaten streak to five games – the team’s longest since 2002.
The offense clicked for Marquette against the Horizon League foe. The Golden Eagles had a season-high in corner kicks (11), 19 shots– eight of them on goal – and tied its season high in goals with two – the other two-goal-performance came on Sept. 1 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee when Marquette’s second goal came on an own goal by Milwaukee.
The first goal came in the 38th minute from freshman defenseman Eric Pothast off of a corner kick. It was his first career goal.
“(The ball) took a bounce and it was heading towards the goal, but pretty slowly, so I was able to get to it with my left foot and volley it in,” Pothast said.
The second goal came in the 68th minute when junior midfielder Amilcar Herrera took a shot from the left corner of the 18-yard box and drilled it inside the far post for his first goal of the season.
“He cut in, had a good look and stuck it beautifully and clean,” coach Louis Bennett said. “It was a fantastic goal. His tail was up and wagging after that one.”
Bennett said it was a goal that Herrera needed.
“He’s been playing well, but he hasn’t broken the net yet (until Wednesday night),” Bennett said. “He’s got the capabilities to do that type of thing (on a more consistent basis).”
Sophomore midfielder Ryan Robb assisted on both goals, which is what Robb said he could do to help the offense earlier in the season when it was struggling.
“I really expect to be getting more assists than I do off of corners when you have the type of guys we do with that ability (to get at the ball) in the air,” Robb said. “Amilcar’s got great movement so we just need to pick him wide-out more so I can get a few more assists coming in (the future).”
While the offense was in sync Wednesday, the defense – despite its shutout– allowed 11 shots and let Wright State’s forwards get by them too often. Robb said the speed of Wright State’s players caught the team off guard in the first half.
“They had a really fast forward who was giving us a few problems,” Robb said. “I think we were stepping a bit too high in the midfield as well as in the defense.”
Throughout the game Bennett substituted six players in-and-out of the game at different points. Bennett said injuries and a desire to get players more experience were the two factors behind the numerous substitutions.
“The Big East is a rough, tough league and we pick up some injuries we want to have everyone sharp,” Bennett said. “There’s no better way to get sharp than by giving guys game time.”
The men have little time to fully heal as their next game is Saturday at Pittsburgh.
The Panthers will come into the game against Marquette with a 5-4-1 record after losing at Cleveland State last night.
