| September 29, 2012
STILL PERFECT
Marquette streak continues with win over Friars
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Central defenders John Pothast and Axel Sjoberg scored second-half goals Saturday to lift No. 10/7 Marquette to a 2-0 win over Providence in the Big East division opener, while redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Charlie Lyon earned his sixth shutout of the season.
The Golden Eagles improve to 10-0-0 (2-0-0 Big East), while the Friars fall to 2-6-1 ( 0-2-0).
After a fairly sedentary first half, Saturday’s Blue Division match-up at Glay Field turned into more of a donnybrook than a soccer game as both sides had trouble adjusting to a wet and slow playing surface due to heavy rainfall in the area on Friday. What the teams’ couldn’t do tactically was made up with physical play.
Frustration eventually boiled over in the second half. A yellow card on the Friars’ Wilder Arboleda after a hard tackle in the middle of the field on MU’s Sebastian Jansson ultimately led to the opening goal.
Junior Bryan Ciesiulka took the ensuing free kick from about 40 yards out. It was flicked to the back post by Sjoberg who won the header, and John Pothast was there to slot it between the goalkeeper and the right post to give MU a 1-0 lead in the 59th minute.
Sjoberg got involved on another set piece in the 72nd minute when the Golden Eagles grabbed a 2-0 advantage. The 6-foot-7 Swede headed a corner kick taken by junior left back Paul Dillon that beat Providence goalkeeper Keasel Broome, who got a hand on the ball. It was Dillon’s team-leading fifth assist of the campaign.
Providence would not go away, however, leading to more work between the posts for Lyon, who faced a total of 17 shots and made a career high nine saves. The Friars also hit the post twice down the stretch and continued applying pressure on the attack until a red card was given to Phil Towler in the 88th minute that essentially killed the tenacity.
Marquette has now won 18 of its last 22 matches and has not dropped a regular-season game since a 3-0 loss at then No. 5/2-ranked Connecticut on Oct. 26, 2011.
That sets the stage for perhaps the biggest game of the year in NCAA Division I men’s soccer next weekend when the undefeated Golden Eagles play host to No. 2/2 UConn (8-0-1, 1-0-0 Big East) at Valley Fields on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 7:05 p.m. Central time.
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