Marquette walked away from Valley Fields with a 1-1 draw with Villanova, but it took late-game heroics for the Golden Eagles to earn any points at all.
After surrendering a goal in the first half, Marquette desperately searched for the equalizer in the waning minutes. With just more than a minute left in regulation time, senior midfielder Sebastian Jansson’s cross just made it through traffic to sophomore midfielder Louis Bennett II for his second goal of the season.
“It’s a relief for us to get a goal,” Bennett II said. “We’re working hard, especially going down 1-0 pretty early. It took a lot of us to work hard.”
Villanova came into the match leading the Big East with 36 yellow cards, ten more than the second highest total. The Wildcats lived up to their reputation on Friday night, compiling 21 fouls in what was a stop-and-start affair.
“It was not a pretty game,” Marquette coach Louis Bennett said. “There was no flow to the game. A lot of times when we broke and got through there was a foul.”
Marquette heavily outshot Villanova 24-13, but the team was unable to capitalize on its opportunities. Marquette also had a season-high 16 corner kicks, but struggled to capitalize on set pieces.
“It’s something we are going to have to address sooner or later,” Bennett said in regards to the missed chances. “We had a lot of opportunities we didn’t capitalize on. That can have a mounting effect of frustration.”
Senior midfielder Hayden Harr scored his team-leading sixth goal off a rebound in the 17th minute to put Villanova ahead early. The goal ended Marquette’s home scoreless streak at 699 minutes. The Golden Eagles still have not lost at home since last season’s Georgetown match, played Oct. 26, 2013.
Both squads had a few opportunities to end things in extra time, including a last-second shot on net by sophomore forward Coco Novarro.
After winning their last eight matches, the Golden Eagles have hit a rough patch this week, failing to earn victories against two squads hovering around .500. The team lost 1-0 to Butler in its previous match. Marquette moves to 7-3-2 with the draw (1-1-2 Big East).
The Golden Eagles are off until Wednesday, when they play a rescheduled match against Providence. The match was postponed due to travel issues.
