Another Red Card, Another Draw: Marquette 2, DePaul 2

Instead of battling out to a draw, the Golden Eagles had to accept one after the Blue Demons equalized after Kyle Bebej was ejected

Marquette men’s soccer went into Wednesday afternoon’s contest with DePaul shorthanded in terms of who was available to them. Matthew Iriarte took on two yellow cards in their previous match against Xavier, so he was suspended against the Blue Demons.

By the end of events at Wish Field, Marquette was playing shorthanded, as Kyle Bebej picked up a second yellow card just more than a minute after the Golden Eagles took a 2-1 second half lead. Who can truly say for certain, but it’s clearly possible and even likely that MU playing with just 10 men for the remainder is how the Blue Demons ended up with their second equalizer of the match in the 82nd minute.

To be honest, the goal was off a corner kick, so I doubt that in that specific moment that having only 10 men had anything to do with it…… but it didn’t help, either.

Marquette may have been lucky to escape Lincoln Park with their 2-2 draw, as DePaul was whistled offside three times in the final six minutes, including in the final 30 seconds. Would I like to tell you more about this? Sure, but apparently the match turned into a Marquee Network exclusive instead of being available on FloSports as the MU schedule said it would be, and that’s how life goes sometimes.

Would you like to watch some highlights? So would I, but the only one available to us is Grant Locker’s second half goal that put Marquette up 1-0.

The draw moves Marquette to eight points in the Big East standings, but combined with other results around the league, MU is in solid position right now. They have the fourth best non-divisional leader record, and the top six teams that don’t win one of the divisions get into the Big East tournament. Seton Hall and Creighton are one point back at the moment, so it’s still very clearly anyone’s ball game.

Up Next: Marquette gets a chance to throw the first Big East loss onto Akron’s record on Saturday night when the Zips come to Valley Fields. Akron moved up to #24 in the country in Tuesday’s new United Soccer Coaches poll, and they’re coming off a 3-0 home win against Creighton on Wednesday that helped MU inch in front of the Bluejays in the standings. First kick is set for 7pm Central in the Valley.