April 29, 2007

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette men's soccer team hosted six area schools in the final event of the spring for the team. The Golden Eagles hosted clubs from Cardinal Stritch, Concordia (Wis.), Carthage (club team), Wis.-Oshkosh, Wisconsin Lutheran and Wis.-Whitewater in a multi-team, round robin formatted event.

In the opening round, the six visiting schools each played one contest, with the winners moving on to face Marquette and each other in the subsequent games. Stritch, Concordia and Oshkosh all proved to be the morning's winners to advance to the Gold Bracket. Marquette went 1-0-2 in the games, each played with two 20 minute halves. Marquette's defense was stingy as the Golden Eagles shutout all three opponents on the day.

"The story of the day was having all of these schools down at The Valley," Associate Head Coach Stan Anderson said. "The weather was fantastic and it was a fun day of soccer for all involved."

Marquette picked up its win in the first game, defeating Cardinal Stritch, 1-0. The Wolves provided some difficulty for the Golden Eagles, but the offense provided a goal when Donald Curry tallied a score from Michael Greene, who has been productive in the final weekends of the spring. Matt Pyzdrowski recorded a shutout in goal for Marquette in his only 40 minutes of action.

"Cardinal Stritch is a skillful and physical team," Anderson added. "They have players that have played in very competitive environments, but our guys did what they needed to do and got the goal that sealed the result."

After a break, the Golden Eagles took on Concordia and played 40 minutes of shutout action on both sides. Playing three different opponents in one day allowed Marquette the opportunity to test players in different situations. Marquette took advantage of that situation against Concordia. Mike Tabory earned the shutout in goal for MU.

"We are looking at plenty of combinations up top to allow us to score some familiar goals," Anderson added. "The positive is we are not allowing many chances and kept another clean sheet."

MU pitched its third shutout of the day against Carthage. The Golden Eagles were aggressive offensively, but the limited time in each game was a factor to the lack of scoring. MU put Bobby Ore in goal and he and the rest of the defense completed the 120 minutes of shutout play.

"We put together some familair play with Michael Greene putting some quality work in on the right side," Anderson said. "He never ceases to amaze as he joined us a day after competing for MU in the weekend track meet at Illinois State. Our backline was solid again and walked away with another clean sheet."

The day of competition concluded spring play for Marquette men's soccer. In all, it was a successful time with the Golden Eagles going 2-1-6, most coming in shortened games. Greene proved his offensive ability as did Nick Kay, each scoring multiple goals in the spring. The defense continued to improve and be impressive at times allowing just six goals in the five days of play.