The Golden Eagles’ offensive woes continued Wednesday night as they fell to No. 10 Creighton 2-0. The game was the second straight scoreless match for the Golden Eagles, who fell 1-0 to Xavier Saturday.
Creighton broke the ice in the 33rd minute, as sophomore midfielder Ricardo Perez made the Golden Eagles pay for leaving him open in the middle of the box. A short cross from the endline found Perez perfectly, and he beat redshirt senior Charlie Lyon on the right side.
Creighton controlled the play from the get-go, outshooting Marquette 6-2 in the first half and earning some quality chances on Lyon.
Junior midfielder Timo Pitter put the game out of reach in the 79th minute, as he navigated his way around Lyon on the left side of the box and put the ball into the open net.
“When you come here, you have to bring your ‘A’ game,” Marquette coach Louis Bennett told GoMarquette.com. “Some adjustments we made well, other adjustments we did not. The biggest difference and disparity was in final-third production, and the opportunities we did have were not as clean as we would have liked.”
Marquette is winless in the last five matches, putting the team in unexpected position with only two regular season contests remaining. They drop to 7-5-3 (1-3-3 Big East) but remain in the sixth spot in the conference, the last tournament position.
Creighton moves to 12-2-2 (5-1-1 Big East) and the second spot in the conference.
Marquette’s road streak continues Saturday as they head to New Jersey to play Seton Hall. The Golden Eagles will face their biggest competitors for the sixth tournament position, as their final two games are against the eighth place Pirates and ninth place DePaul.
“The nature of the Big East is you have to bring your best game, every game,” Bennett said to GoMarquette.com. “It’s a very competitive league and we were on the wrong side of a few close results. Still, it’s a loss, and it hurts. But we are still in the thick of some things. Our job as a coaching staff is to get us ready for Seton Hall.”
