No. 13 Marquette men’s soccer went to Creighton in its first Big East match with the hopes of winning out of Valley Fields for the first time this season.
However, the Bluejays (2-3-2) had other plans and beat the Golden Eagles (6-1, 0-1 Big East) 2-1 Friday night at Morrison Stadium.
Marquette goes back to Milwaukee with its first loss this year.
Creighton seizes control
The Bluejays started the match on the front foot, firing six shots in the opening 16 minutes compared to the Golden Eagles’ one.
In the 20th minute, the pressure paid off and Creighton junior midfielder Landon Sloan put the ball into the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, graduate student forward Alfie Pope found the upper right side of the net to double the Bluejays’ lead.
Marquette gathered its bearings in the remainder of the first half, putting some pressure on Creighton’s defense, but the Bluejays kept it 2-0 headed into the locker room.
Statistical leaders
Sophomore defender Kyle Bebej had Marquette’s only goal of the evening. Sophomore goalkeeper Ludvig Malberg totaled six saves on the night for the Golden Eagles.
In addition to his goal, Pope totaled five shots for the Bluejays. Graduate midfielder Dominic Briggs also totaled two shots on goal for Creighton.
Ending the clean sheet
In the 59th minute, Marquette ended Creighton redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Blake Gillingham’s clean sheet off a long-distance shot from Bebej. The ball went off Gillingham’s fingertips before finding its way into the top left corner of the net.
63′ | MU – 1 | CU – 2 | GOAL!!! Minutes after clearing a shot off the line at the far post, Kyle Bebej dials long distance to cut the deficit in half with 30 minutes left! pic.twitter.com/mrlA8NMOcH
— Marquette Soccer (@marquettesoccer) September 16, 2023
After Bebej’s goal, the Golden Eagles had some late chances, but were unable to score and lost their first match in seven games.
Up next
Marquette travels to crosstown rival University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-3) for the Milwaukee Cup Sept. 19. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST at Engelmann Stadium.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MSeversonMU
