Marquette men’s soccer started the season 6-0 at home. Now, after their last two home games, the Golden Eagles are 6-2 at Valley Fields.

Marquette hosted Northern Illinois (3-6, 0-2 Missouri Valley) Monday night looking to get back to its winning ways after falling at home to St. John’s Sept. 29.

The Golden Eagles outshot the Huskies 16-5 but could not capitalize on any of their chances, leading Northern Illinois to win 1-0, its first road win of the season.

“Huge missed opportunity,” Marquette head coach Louis Bennett said. “Hugely disappointing. It’s two games now, we had 16 shots, we had 19 shots in our last game and no goals to show for it.”

Marquette (7-3-1, 1-2 Big East) has only won one out of its last five games, despite starting the season undefeated.

Statistical leaders

Graduate student forward Brooklyn Merl and senior forward Beto Soto led Marquette with each having three shots, each putting two on target. Junior forward Abdoul Karim Pare also took two shots for the Golden Eagles.

Northern Illinois sophomore midfielder Angel Rodriguez was the lone goalscorer of the night. Senior defender Dylan Banker had a shot on target, junior forward Taisei Arima and senior midfielder Diego Maynez both contributed a shot for the Huskies. 

Offensive chances

Marquette started the match on the attack, totaling eight shots compared to Northern Illinois’ two at the end of the first half.

Despite controlling the pace of the first 45 minutes, the Golden Eagles still found themselves tied 0-0 heading into the locker room with the Huskies’ first-year goalkeeper Athan Arslan having six saves.

Marquette was stout defensively, only allowing Northern Illinois a single shot on goal in the first half. 

“The quality of what we do has to get better on the attacking third,” Bennett said. 

A slow drip

Marquette had some scoring opportunities in the second half, but couldn’t capitalize.

The Huskies’ offense slowly but surely persisted through the Golden Eagles’ back line, culminating in the 79th minute of the match, when Rodriguez utilized a second chance from a blocked shot. The ball curved over the head of Marquette sophomore goalkeeper Ludvig Malberg and just under the top of the netting to give Northern Illinois the 1-0 lead.

After Rodriguez’s goal, the energy shift towards the Huskies was evident. Despite a couple of Marquette shots in the final minutes, Northern Illinois pulled off the upset. 

“The big elephant in the room: we have so much possession of the ball in the box, and we’re not finishing,” Bennett said. “That’s the biggest deal, we have to finish those chances.”

Up next

Marquette continues the homestand against Xavier (5-3-1, 2-1 Big East) Saturday. Kick off is scheduled for 3 p.m. CST at Valley Fields.

This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU