After winning the Big East Blue Division this fall, coach Louis Bennett wants his team’s spring season to be about one thing: progress.
That started on Sunday with the squad’s annual Blue and Gold game at Valley Fields. It was the first of many games for the team this spring, whose slate of games include tilts with multiple Division I programs.
Although it was an intra-squad game, Bennett said the game was still beneficial. He wants his team to not allow the game-day feeling to become foreign. Bennett said he liked how his team looked on Sunday, with the pace of play standing out.
“How quickly we can move the ball impressed me,” Bennett said. “For me, what I liked about this, I forgot it was snowing. We forgot it was snowing because the quality of the game was that good.”
The Golden Eagles have a new foreign player this spring, New Zealander James Routledge. Bennett wants foreign players to enroll at Marquette a semester early, so they can better acclimate themselves to life in Milwaukee.
Bennett noted Routledge played better on Sunday than he had previously this spring, scoring one goal and assisting on another. Routledge said he wants to be a contributor in the starting 11 come August, but he wants to use the spring to progress as a student-athlete as well.
“I’ve been out of school for a year, so coming back into doing school work and training all the time, I think I have to manage my time better,” Routledge said.
Senior midfielder Ryan Robb is in his final spring season for the Golden Eagles and has overseen the revolution of the program under Bennett. He thinks part of his role as a senior is to be a leader to younger players, like Routledge.
“For the younger lads, with the ability like James (Routledge) has got is endless,” Robb said. “They’re only going to get better. But it’s important for older guys to show them the way that we play.”
After establishing a winning mentality toward the second part of the season last fall, Bennett wants to use the spring season as an opportunity to further instill that mindset in his squad.
The Golden Eagles established a new style of play last fall, which requires more skill and quickness on the ball. After watching the team’s play on Sunday, Bennett came away impressed with the progression.
The main priority of the team is winning, he said, and if they can’t do that with their quick style of play, they’ll have to find a way.
“Obviously we’re going to try to dance with the girl we take to the dance,” Bennett said. “Which is the way we play, but if we have to do some ugly dance, we will.”
The Golden Eagles’ next game is March 24 against Northern Illinois, a team they lost to in the fall at Valley Fields.
