Marquette men’s soccer’s defense led the way in taking down the Butler Bulldogs 3-2 on a wet and rainy night at Valley Fields.
The Golden Eagles improved to 3-3 in BIG EAST conference play and are now tied for third place in the standings following their second-consecutive win.
“Wow,” head coach Louis Bennett said. “I don’t mean to say, ‘Wow, I’m so surprised’ … I’m just so excited that we have a group of young men that have been working for their opportunity.”
Butler came into the match one point ahead of MU in the BIG EAST standings.
“We had to have a stellar performance today, and that’s exactly what we delivered,” Bennett said. “I was really proud after (defeating) Villanova, but I’m really, really proud of our effort tonight.”
Senior defender Patrick Seagrist got the ball rolling for the Golden Eagles with his first goal of the season. It came off a corner from Josh Coan in the 16th minute.
After dominating possession for much of the first half, Butler scored on a penalty from freshman forward Wilmer Cabrera Jr. to tie the match at 1-1.
Moments later, sophomore defender Josh Hancock buried a goal off a corner from Lukas Sunesson to give MU a 2-1 lead heading into halftime. It was Hancock’s first collegiate goal.
“It felt really good,” Hancock said. “I remember (Sunesson) getting the ball and chipping it to the back post, and I just made sure it crossed the line.”
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Sunesson added a goal to build the Golden Eagles’ lead to 3-1. Josh Coan tallied his second assist of the match.
Butler remained in the game with a goal from Brandon Guhl in the 66th minute to bring the Bulldogs within one goal of MU.
“We pieced together a game plan, and in the first half I thought it worked really well,” Bennett said. “Then it spiraled out a little bit.”
Although sophomore goalkeeper Cedrik Stern surrendered two goals on eight shots on goal, he made a couple of impressive saves, including a diving stop in the 33rd minute.
“(Stern) made three or four unbelievable saves,” Bennett said. “He kept us in the game.”
MU outshot Butler 18-12, but the Bulldogs had a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal.
Sunesson came off the pitch in the 81st minute after an apparent injury. He returned to the game a couple of minutes later.
Marquette takes on the No. 7 Georgetown Hoyas in its next match Saturday in Washington D.C. at noon Central Standard Time.
“This is an opportunity for us to build on, and we did that tonight,” Hancock said. “We showed our resilience again, and that’s what (Bennett) has been drilling into us this week.”
The Hoyas defeated the Golden Eagles in the BIG EAST tournament final last season.
“We’re just going to take every game one game at a time,” Bennett said. “We’re going to lick our wounds, and we’re going to go at it again. … We don’t mind being underdogs.”
