No. 19 Marquette men’s soccer team defeated the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars in a come from behind 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields.
“SIUE is known for being a team that never gives up and they definitely gave us a lot to handle this afternoon,” head coach Louis Bennett said. “The game definitely had a little bit of everything today.”
Sunday’s match consisted of seven total goals scored, a saved penalty-kick and two goals scored within 18 seconds of each other.
In the 25th minute, redshirt junior forward Lukas Sunesson stole the ball from a SIUE defender and sent it past Cougars goalkeeper Lluis Martorell to give Marquette an early 1-0 lead. It was Sunesson’s first goal of the season.
SIUE erased its early 1-0 deficit by quickly scoring two goals right before halftime.
In the 39th minute, SIUE found its equalizer after first-year forward Alex Pontoni headed home junior midfielder Kelby Phillips’ cross past Marquette redshirt junior netminder Chandler Hallwood.
Two minutes later, redshirt first-year defender Max Broughton slotted home first-year forward Alex Segura’s corner to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead heading into halftime.
For the first time this season, MU saw itself in a deficit.
Redshirt sophomore defender Harvey Read wasted no time in the second half as he brought the score level 2-2 in the 47th minute. First-year midfielder Edrey Caceres had the assist.
Read’s equalizer was his second goal in a matter of two games, both of which coming off corner kicks.
In the 52nd minute, redshirt () midfielder Alan Salmeron was called for a foul inside the box giving SIUE a opportunity to retake the lead.
Pau Palacin took the penalty kick for the Cougars but Hallwood came up huge for the Golden Eagles with the save.
Then two minutes later, Caceres gave MU back the lead as he shot one from the top of the 18 past Matorell. It was Caceres first collegiate goal.
“It was an amazing feeling to get my first goal at Marquette,” Caceres said. “It’s something I’ve been working towards, I’m really happy to achieve this goal and I hope there are many more to come.”
The scoring wouldn’t stop there for the Golden Eagles.
In the 74th minute redshirt first-year Beto Soto made a run inside the box and slotting one home past Martorell to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable 4-2 lead with just over 15 minutes left to play.
The two goal lead would not last long for MU.
Just 18 seconds after Soto’s goal, SIUE responded with a goal of their own after sophomore midfielder Oskar Lenz.
The Golden Eagles would end up hanging on to their one-goal advantage for the remaining 15 minutes of the game to prevail the non-conference victory.
“The win shows a lot about our personality and the mentality of the team to never give up,” Caceres said. “We’re going to keep on growing and move forward.”
Bennett said he was pleased with his team’s response to the adversity of being down after the first half.
“It shows that we can be resilient,” Bennett said. “That’s something we’re going to need to beat teams that have great talent like SIUE.
Hallwood finished with a match high two saves while giving up three goals on the afternoon.
SIUE outshot MU on the afternoon 14 to 9.
Marquette (2-0) will host Kansas City Friday night at Valley Fields at 7:05 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Sam Arco. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @sam_i_am119.
