Four syllables have changed the Marquette men’s soccer team this spring: Adam Lysak.
The redshirt freshman forward has scored eight goals in five matches this spring, including two more goals and an assist in a 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Wave of the Major Indoor Soccer League Saturday.
The Wave were the 2011 MISL Champions, but the team on the field Saturday was a combination of current and former players.
The victory over the Wave was the fourth time in five spring matches that the Golden Eagles scored three or more goals. That feat happened only three times in Marquette’s 19 fall games.
“I think the main thing is that guys are getting in some experience,” junior midfielder Calum Mallace said of the team’s offensive outburst this spring. “After their first or second season in the fall (they’re) getting it over with and settling down and becoming themselves.”
Last fall the Marquette offense survived on a large dose of Mallace, the team’s only player to post double digit points (18) or more than four goals (six). But Lysak may take some of the weight off of Mallace’s shoulders.
Lysak redshirted this past fall and that redshirt experience helped him gain a better understanding of Marquette’s one-forward offense after playing in a system with two forwards prior to Marquette.
“I think (after) the year he had off and the tough talks we had, I think he’s embraced some of the ideas of playing slightly different than he’s used to,” Bennett said. “We’re using him as a point forward, so when we start an attack it looks like a spear, and he’s the point of that spear.”
Lysak said he finally feels comfortable in Marquette’s system.
“This is the first time I’ve played with one forward up top,” Lysak said. “And being that one forward, it’s a different mentality since you have to stretch the field. You have to create holes for everyone instead of attacking the holes yourself, so that was probably the biggest adjustment.”
The biggest difference Mallace has noticed in Lysak this spring is a new sense of confidence.
“He’s always been a good player, he’s always had the good touch,” Mallace, who assisted on Lysak’s second goal Saturday, said. “He came in this spring, worked hard, got fit and just wanted to prove himself.
“We’ve been there the last couple of years, but we’ve just needed a finisher to put the ball in the back of the net and he might be it.”
But don’t mistake this team for an offensive juggernaut just because of Lysak. Bennett’s well aware that there’s room for improvement.
“We’re a break or build team, it’s that simple,” Bennett said. “If we can break, we’re going to break, but if we can’t break because a team has stopped us, then we’ll build.
“Sometimes we’ve gotten break happy, and the forwards tongues are hanging out. And it’s like, ‘whoa, hold the ball.’ And more experience will give us the ability to hold onto the ball so that we have a finer balance between (those two).”
