Oct. 1, 2006

Box Score | Highlights

INDIANOLA, Pa. - The Marquette men's soccer team surrendered two goals in the first 10 minutes to Pittsburgh as the Panthers took a 3-0 win in men's college soccer.

The Panthers scored their first goal on a penalty kick by Mike Cunha in the ninth minute. Pittsburgh was up two in the 10th minute when Matt Langton capped off a fast break started by Matt Baker. Pittsburgh scored in the 44th minute when Oran Gordon struck on a feed from Chris Bastidas.

To compound matters, Marquette scored a goal that was disallowed midway through the first half on an offsides call. Senior forward Matt Blouin raced past the Pittsburgh defense after the feed to a one on one situation that was whistled.

"The entire Pittsburgh experience was disappointing," head coach Louis Bennett said. "Going down early, having the goal called back by the linesman who called offsides, to making the errors that we made, everything was disappointing about this trip."

It was the second straight game in which Marquette gave up a goal in the first 10 minutes, creating a situation where the Golden Eagles are in an uphill battle nearly the entire game, especially a physical team like Pittsburgh.

"It's very tough to give away goals early," Bennett said. "We didn't get into a rhythm until 10 or 15 minutes in and we were down two goals. With a team like Pittsburgh that's going to bully you, we didn't realize we were in a metaphoric fight until we were down two."

Having the goal called back that would have made it a 2-1 game was even more distressing for Bennett, especially considering the team has not scored in four straight games.

"We had our chances today. We put the ball in the net, even though it was called back," Bennett said.

Defensively, the Golden Eagles have struggled recently allowing 12 goals over the last four contests.

"Right now, it's too easy for us to get beat," Bennett said. "Maybe it's information overload or maybe it's asking our players to mature too much too soon."

Regardless, Bennett is not going to change his philosophy off tight defending and quick counter attacking.

"We have proved that the system works," he said. "I don't want to sit back and clog things up. We won't accomplish anything. The disappointing part is that when someone seems to be understanding their position, someone else makes mistakes. The learning curve has to improve."

Riding a 10 game losing streak, Bennett said the best thing he can do for his team is be honest.

"For me, it's about being realistic and being honest," he said. "When we do things right, we're successful. When we don't, we're not. We have to find out why we are making the mistakes. There are only three answers: I didn't know what to do, I couldn't do it, or I didn't want to. No matter what the answer is, we have to find out what it is and address it."

Marquette has what might be its most difficult contest awaiting next. MU visits seventh ranked West Virginia next Saturday, October 7 at 7 p.m. EDT in Morgantown, W.Va.

"We will watch film on Monday and find out answers. We will train hard on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to prepare for what is our toughest opponent of the season," Bennett said.