The Marquette soccer alums returned to Valley Fields last Thursday evening to take on the current Marquette men’s soccer team. The match proved that the alumni hadn’t lost a step as they were able to keep the current players at bay, playing them to a 1-1 tie. The exhibition match kicked off the Men’s Soccer Alumni Reunion.

The alumni used a very strong defense to blank the current men’s team in the first half, though it seemed that the current Marquette team started off unenthusiastically, underrating their former teammates. The current players seemed unorganized and slow to the ball. At the end of the first half, the score remained 0-0, but the alumni team had a mental advantage.

As the game progressed, the alumni team took the reins and began to play with some enthusiasm. The alumni team strung together many talented pass sequences when they had control of the ball, and the Golden Eagles could not seem to overcome their passing.

Thirty minutes into the second half, the alumni still hadn’t let a shot get through. In the 70th minute of play, however, the current Marquette men were able to score when Bryan Dahlquist placed the ball beautifully into the back of the net off of a corner kick from freshman Mike Plager.

The game took a turn for the better after the goal was scored for the current Marquette men, who found a spark of inspiration and began to play as a team.

The alumni team fought back from the one-goal disadvantage, and brought the game back to an even playing field in the 83rd minute when Derek Gutierrez, a four-time letter winner from 2000-2003, scored the second goal of the evening off a penalty kick. The score remained even for the remaining six minutes, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. On Saturday, the men were blanked 1-0 by Providence. The match was a highly contested defensive struggle which the only score by Providence came in the 40th minute.

Marquette’s best chance came in the 77th minute off of a free kick, but they failed to capitalize. The Friar’s defensive style was able to limit Marquette’s chances to score. Marquette also saw a shot off of a free kick in the 55th minute, but it was saved by the Providence keeper.

Marquette fell to 1-8-1 overall and still remains winless in Big East competition. The team returns to action Sept. 27 at Notre Dame.

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