Men’s Soccer Shuts Out Butler

The Golden Eagles got three saves from Marten Brink and two mistakes by the Bulldogs to get a 2-0 win and stay perfect in Big East play.

Sometimes you don’t have to be good or great to win a sporting contest, you just need to be better than the opponent.

To a certain extent, that’s what Marquette men’s soccer did on Saturday night at Valley Fields. After a penalty kick and a bit of quick thinking and reacting, the Golden Eagles ended their match with Butler with a 2-0 victory. That makes Marquette 2-0-0 in Big East play, one of just two teams in the league that are still perfect.

It also matches Marquette’s Big East win total for the last two seasons combined.

In the early goings, it seemed like Marquette was getting the more dangerous chances on offense, and perhaps that early pressure is what led Butler’s Henri Kumwenda to trip MU’s Karim Abdoul Pare as he got past him inside the 18 yard box. Abdoul Pare was clearly past him around the right side, foul committed, penalty given, Mitar Mitrovic calmly deposited his team high fifth goal of the season and third PK into the right side of the net, 1-0 Marquette in the 20th minute.

That margin held through halftime as the Golden Eagles held a 6-4 advantage in shots. In other words, a kind of competitive match tilted by Butler’s boo-boo. It felt that way as well, with either A) Butler figuring out what Marquette was trying to do on offense and short circuiting it a bit better or B) Marquette taking 10% less risk on board as they protected a 1-0 lead.

The tenor of the match changed early on in the second half. Marquette played a ball down the right side for Abdoul Pare — after all, that worked so well before, right? — but it was a little too long, and Pare wasn’t going to get to it before Butler keeper Caleb Norris could scoot over and scoop it up. No problem, that’s soccer sometimes, I shifted in my seat in the Valley and adjusted my ballcap as I expected Norris to hold the ball for a moment as MU backed off to allow play to continue…. and a shout rose up from the crowd as I wasn’t looking at the ball for a moment.

I turned back, and there was the ball floating through the air and into the net.

So what had happened was Norris quickly rolled it out to his center back to get play moving again. Sam Pitts-Eckersall’s first touch was a little bit rough, so it didn’t quite stop at his feet and popped away from him. MU’s Gabe Anguil was already charging at him, and easily stepped in between Pitts-Eckersall and the ball and chipped Norris for a 2-0 lead in the 53rd minute. That’s the first goal in a Marquette uniform for Anguil and his only shot of the match. Well done!

That was the first official shot of the second half, and you could easily argue that the match tilted towards Butler a bit after that. Marquette’s Marten Brink had to make two of his three saves in the match just a bit past the hour mark to keep the Bulldogs off the board as Butler outshot Marquette 7-4 after the scoreboard read 2-0. But ultimately, Marquette kept up the offensive pressure just enough to keep Butler honest and prevent them from a full on jailbreak to get on the board, and that’s how you get Brink’s fourth shutout of the season.

Up Next: Marquette is off until Friday when they head out on the road to the East Coast to face Seton Hall. The Pirates are 7-1-1 on the year but 0-1-1 in Big East play following a scoreless draw with UConn on Saturday night in Storrs. Will they still be ranked come Friday, as they were #15 in the United Soccer Coaches poll this week? We’ll find out together, I guess. First kick on that match in South Orange is scheduled for just before 6pm Central time. No, really, 5:56 for some reason.