The Golden Eagles keep things scoreless until the late stages when an inch or two on the crossbar makes a difference.
Through 83 minutes of action in Evanston on Monday night, Marquette men’s soccer was right there with #9 Northwestern. Shots in the first half were dead even at five each, and both keepers made a save. As the second half went along, Marquette had a teeny advantage, 5-4 in shots, but nothing on frame for either squad.
And then, this corner kick from the Wildcats.
84′ | GOAL! Nigel Prince heads the Collin McCamy corner off the bar and in to give Northwestern the lead!
‘Cats 1, Marquette 0 pic.twitter.com/IwZJjZvmTs
— Northwestern Men’s Soccer (@NUMensSoccer) September 10, 2024
Off the bar and down and in, 1-0 Northwestern. Quarter of an inch on the ball, half an inch on Nigel Prince’s head, an inch on the bar, and the trajectory keeps the shot from going in or heck, even being a shot at all. Alas, everything was in the right place for Northwestern, leaving Marquette very little time to work with to find an equalizer. They did get a shot on frame before the final horn, as Justin Milovanov made NU’s Rafael Ponce de Leon make a save in the 89th minute, but that was it for MU’s chance to come away with a draw after battling to keep it level for 80+ minutes.
Can we swing back to the goal for a second? Go watch it again and keep your eye on Marquette keeper Marten Brink the whole time. Pretty sure that Northwestern’s Michael Ramirez fouls Brink, not because he bodies him to keep him from getting into position to make that save, but because Ramirez uses his arms to contain Brink. I’m not entirely sure that Brink could have made the save even if he wasn’t interfered with, but I feel like that’s an easy foul call for the referee to blow the whistle before the corner kick is even in the air. Memo to Marten Brink: Throw dudes out of the way if they try that with you again! Make the ref see what’s happening!
Oh well.
Up Next: Marquette looks to snap a three match winless streak on Thursday when they host Division 3 Edgewood for Senior Night at Valley Fields. The Eagles from Madison are 3-1-1 this season and coming off a 9-0 victory against UW-Stout on Sunday afternoon. Their only loss on the year was in the opener and it came against then-#16 UW-Eau Claire.