Sept. 21, 2008

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Box Score

Milwaukee, Wis. -

Box Score vs. St. John's (PDF)

The Marquette men's soccer team stayed close, but could not hold off No. 5 St. John's from tallying a game winner on a penalty kick Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields. Despite outshooting the squad from Queens, N.Y. 16-9, the Golden Eagles fell 1-0 on a penalty kick two minutes and 15 seconds into the second overtime period.

"Experience and real quality experience doesn't allow you to drop your standards for what might be perceived as inferior opposition," said head coach Louis Bennett. "No one is inferior. These guys are beginning to get it. Whether it's Syracuse or St. John's they both have their strengths. Even if you have a team that's not favored or not exotic, it's still playing against all the other teams in the BIG EAST and they're resilient. This is the thing about the league, that resilience. I thought today we showed that resilience."

After junior Ryan Soroka drew a foul on a tackle in the box two minutes into the second overtime, St. John's looked to freshman Bjorn de Hoop for the game winner. de Hoop placed the ball in the lower right corner of the goal, just past diving senior goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski to help St. John's remain undefeated in overall and conference play (6-0-2, 1-0-0 BIG EAST).

"I read it right, I just guess I didn't push off enough. He put it perfectly low in the bottom corner," Pyzdrowski said. "As soon as he hit it, I thought I had it. I touched it and got a deflection but unfortunately, it just wasn't enough."

St. John's goalkeeper redshirt senior Neil Kitson entered the game without allowing a goal for nearly 620:00 straight minutes. The Red Storm win today extends his shutout time to about 700:00 consecutive minutes.

Marquette (1-3-2, 0-3-0 BIG EAST) was not without it's goal scoring opportunities in the game. With a season-high 16 shots, 8 of which were on frame, the Golden Eagles were unable to capitalize.

In the seventh minute of play, junior Billy Von Rueden fed a ball to sophomore Anthony Colaizzi, whose shot from ten yards out deflected off a St. John's defender. Minutes later, at the 13:18 mark, a blood stoppage occurred for freshman Paul Monsen. After about a five minute halt in play, Monsen was able to return after taking jersey number 26 for the remainder of the game.

The Red Storm had their first quality opportunity of the afternoon in the 26th minute when a corner kick taken by Ale Ivo squirted through the box to Soroka, who was unable to finish it from ten yards out.

In the 36th minute of play, junior Tim Jallow played a ball to junior Mike Greene. Greene launched the ball from 25 yards out, forcing Red Storm goalkeeper Kitson to backpedal and deflect the ball over the crossbar.

After a scuffle in front of the goal prior to a St. John's corner kick, St. John's junior defender Joel Gustafsson and Marquette's Von Rueden were each issued a yellow card.

Following intermission, Marquette came out with a sense of urgency, outshooting the Red Storm 8-1 in the second half and not allowing and Red Storm corner kicks for the remainder of the game.

An opportunity for the Golden Eagles came off a Colaizzi cross in the 57th minute, finding junior Nick Kay's head but ending up just left of the goal. St. John's countered later with a free kick, with Ivo missing a straight-on shot from thirty yards out in the 63rd minute.

After a foul on St. John's in the 72nd minute, Colaizzi fired a rocket from 40 yards on a direct kick, forcing a Kitson save. A minute later, St. John's almost gave up an own goal when junior defender David Reed misplayed a header back to Kitson in the box. Kitson was forced to dive for the save.

In the 78th minute of play, Marquette had perhaps it's best scoring opportunity of the match when Kay found freshman Amilcar Hererra, whose point blank shot was deflected by a Red Storm defender.

Freshman Calum Mallace garnered the third yellow card of the game with less than five minutes to play in regulation time. The Golden Eagles nearly ended the game with two minutes left when a Von Rueden corner kick was punched out by the St. John's goalkeeper. Mallace settled the deflection at the top of the 18' and sent the ball into Colaizzi, who fired a shot from inside the 6'.

Marquette's eight corner kicks on the day were a new season high, as were the six corners they allowed to St. John's.

Following regulation, Marquette led in shots, 15-6, and shots on goal margin, 8-2. Pyzdrowski recorded one save in the first 90 minutes of play, while St. John's combined for eight saves, three of which were team saves.

St. John's saw two scoring chances in the opening minutes of the first overtime period, failing to make fruition of either. In the third minute, de Hoop fired a hard shot on goal from the left side of the penalty box, forcing Pyzdrowski to make his second save of the game. In the fifth minute, the Red Storm's freshman Joakim Helland crossed the ball from 45 yards out to Soroka, who shot the ball wide.

In the opening minute of the second overtime, sophomore Hector Navarro intercepted a pass from Kay, and took a hard shot that was high.

With the clock stopped at 102:15 for the penalty kick, de Hoop capitalized on his second shot of the game, placing the ball past a diving Pyzdrowski.

"We're not tasting victory yet but I can tell you we're smelling it. And you guys are smelling it. Everyone in the stands is smelling it now," said Bennett. "I'd pay to see St. John's, but I'd pay to see Marquette today. I might not have on Friday, but that's an immature team. But we're getting mature."

The Golden Eagles started a new lineup the fourth time this season, featuring five backs and a lone forward in Nick Kay.

"I don't want to blame injuries or anything but we haven't had a full squad to pick from until today and Scott Miller lacks game fitness," said Bennett. "We played well on Friday but it was a game we let slip away. I thought not changing the starters, but changing the formation would help us. We knew what St. John's was all about. We have to put the right players at the right time and now we have competition for places and so we can actually get after a team like St. John's."

Marquette welcomed back defensive staple Scott Miller in his second game since a knee injury.

"I thought Scott [Miller] was the best player on the field today to be honest with you," Bennett said. "You could tell he was dragging two heavy legs around. It was the worst possible case scenario for him: not having played 90 minutes since he had knee surgery three weeks ago but you saw how dominant he was. He gives us a stability to win the balls we need to win and get the ball down and play - something we've been missing."

Marquette will travel to Louisville September 26 for a 6 p.m. game and then continue to Cincinnati on September 28 for back-to-back BIG EAST road games.