Coming off a loss earlier this week to Seton Hall, the Marquette men’s soccer team entered Saturday night’s contest against UConn still in search of its first Big East win of the season.
However, the Golden Eagles found themselves earning their draw of the season, tying 1-1 with the Huskies at Valley Fields.
“Our goal was to get three points tonight,” Marquette head coach Louis Bennett said. “After going up, we showed a little bit of immaturity and had a small crack, and they (UConn) managed to score a goal from it. We’re not an easy team to play against, but sometimes we’re an easy team to beat. We did get a point though.”
After an even first half, Marquette struck first in the 51st minute when first-year midfielder Mitar Mitrovic put one past UConn’s goalkeeper Michael Stone off a give-and-go pass sequence from senior forward Lukas Sunesson and junior forward Beto Soto. It was Mitrovic’s second goal of the season.
The Golden Eagles 1-0 lead wouldn’t last long however.
UConn found its equalizer in the 68th minute from sophomore forward Scott Testori. The play originally began with a shot from junior midfielder Soren Ilose, which was saved by Marquette senior goalkeeper Chandler Hallwood. Illose’s shot was deflected and then cleaned up Testori a she tapped it into the back of the net.
“We’re never satisfied with a tie,” Mitrovic said. “It hurts a little bit to not hang on to the lead.”
UConn outshot Marquette 14-9 on the night. Mitrovic said the Golden Eagles left opportunities on the board, particularly in the first half.
“The first half was unusually slop from us,” Mitrovic said. “Individually as a team, we had chances to exploit them a little more but we didn’t. We still managed to not give anything away, had some good chances but didn’t capitalize. Then second half started and we started really well.”
Despite earning a point with the tie, Marquette remains in 11th place in the Big East with three points.
“Each game we’ve got to take as a single game and we’ve got to kind of patch ourselves up and go again, we’re going to have to win away from home and the rest of the home games and then we could be really in the mix,” Bennet said.
Marquette (4-7-3, 0-3-3 Big East) heads down I-94 to face DePaul Wednesday at 1 p.m. CST.
“If we just go in there with the same intensity, same energy and same mentality I think we can get a result,” Mitrovic said. “You know I think we’re bound to turn around the season and start winning some games.”
This article was written by Catherine Fink. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CatherineFinkMU.
