Marquette men’s soccer didn’t need any last minute heroics to win its second game of the season.
In the Golden Eagles first win, two comeback goals were the recipe for success. Today, by the 59th minute, they were up by three.
Marquette (2-0) earned its first clean sheet of the season, beating Purdue Fort Wayne (0-2) 3-0 Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields to remain undefeated on the year.
“We won,” Marquette head coach Louis Bennett said. “The most important thing when you are early in the season is to try to grow, to try to get better and to win.”
Statistical Leaders
Graduate student forward Brooklyn Merl was involved in every goal scored, finishing with one goal and two assists. He currently sits at an average of one goal per game on the season.
“That’s the reason I play forward, to score goals, and I’m happy that I helped my team today,” Merl said.
Sophomore goalkeeper Ludvig Malberg tallied his first career assist in the win.
“Feels nice to give the goalie an assist,” Merl said. “It doesn’t happen everyday but today it happened so we are happy.”
Dominant second half
Marquette went into the locker room tied 0-0 with Purdue Fort Wayne after its five shots were all for naught.
After three minutes into the second half, graduate student forward Christian Marquez put the Golden Eagles ahead 1-0.
“I said that they needed to stop bickering,” Bennett said. “They needed to focus on doing the job themselves and then adding advice in a different way in terms of pulling in the same direction.”
22 minutes later, Marquette led 3-0.
Malberg booted the ball up the field to Merl, who made it 2-0 and shortly after, first-year midfielder Mitar Mitrovic scored the Golden Eagles’ third and final goal.
A physical game
At the 90-minute whistle, both teams had combined for 34 fouls and five yellow cards in the match.
Late in the first half, the physicality increased as both teams saw players get booked. Mitrovic was handed a yellow card in the 28th minute and Purdue Fort Wayne graduate student defender Luke Morrell received his yellow card shortly after.
The second half more of the same as Merl was booked in the 59th minute and Purdue Fort Wayne junior midfielder Juan Romero was carded in the 63rd minute.
Next up
Marquette stays in Milwaukee to host Detroit Mercy (0-2) at Valley Fields Friday evening. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CST.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MatthewBaltzMU.
