Fall season was satisfying overall for Marquette athletics, with three excellent teams that just kept getting better. 2006 proved a fruitful year for freshman recruits and also in the stunning leadership skills of the upperclassmen in their respective sports. Continue Reading

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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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For the most recent Marquette women’s soccer game, a nationally televised match against St. Louis University, I wandered over to one of the places that televised the game, and recorded my thoughts as the game progressed. Going into the game Marquette was undefeated and ranked No. 17 by SoccerBuzz and St. Louis was 2-1-2 and ranked No. 27.

6:58 p.m. Arrive at Anodyne Coffee House,1208 E. Brady St., which was one of the eight or so local places I could find that carried Fox Soccer Network.

6:59 p.m. Somewhat disappointed, but not surprised, that this is not going to look like a scene out of a commercial during the World Cup with rowdy, shirtless, body-painted psychos. I’m still feeling pretty cool in my Team Italia soccer shirt though.

7:04 p.m. Introduction of team lineups for both the St. Louis University Billikens and Marquette Golden Eagles.

7:07 p.m. Ball drops/kickoff. I’m not really sure whether I should use the hockey or football term.

7:09 p.m. Announcer reads my mind and explains that the clock counts down from 45:00 rather than up from zero as in World Cup soccer or WIAA soccer.

7:12 p.m. SLU player down. I find out that the clock stops in college play, eliminating any chance for stoppage time. Hearing British announcers say “stoppage time” is about my favorite part of soccer.

7:27 p.m. SLU takes a 1-0 lead, thanks to Courtney Hulcer’s goal. Marquette is behind for the first time in the young season.

7:36 p.m. Hear the term “assist” used for about the 10,000 time in the broadcast. I begin to wonder if “dime” and “dish” are exclusively reserved for basketball.

7:46 p.m. Katie Kelly gets the better of Maureen Hughes in a serious collision.

7:55 p.m. Halftime; SLU outshot MU 11-0 in the first half.

8:11 p.m. Start of second half and in-game interview with Coach Roeders. MU looks much sharper initially.

8:13 p.m. MU gets a corner kick taken by Kelly.

8:13 p.m. GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLL by Lauren Weber.

8:27 p.m. As I finish my second Mountain Dew it occurs to me, what is a Billiken? (Turns out a Billiken is a version of an ancient Asian figure created by an art teacher in Kansas City, Mo., in 1908, and it became associated with SLU sometime between 1910 and 1911.)

8:57 p.m. End of regulation, meaning the last two times I have worn the Team Italia shirt the game I was watching went into OT (the World Cup Final was the other game).

9:01 p.m. Start of two 10:00 OT periods that will end in sudden death (or “sudden victory” or “golden gold” for those of you in the PC camp who believe using “sudden death” in sporting events is somehow contributing to America’s desensitization to violence.)

9:05 p.m. Laura Boyer makes a save for MU.

9:10 p.m. Great effort by Michelle Martin to keep the ball in play.

9:12 p.m. End of first OT.

9:15 p.m. Start of second OT.

9:16 p.m. Hear for the millionth time that SLU’s Alex Twellman comes from a long line of great soccer players. She is obviously the equivalent of John Lucas III, or Eli Manning.

9:25 p.m. Second OT ends. The game ends in 1-1 tie, making MU 2-0-2.

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