Men's Soccer Faces Pair of Potent Opponents

Oct. 19, 1999

MILWAUKEE -

COMING UP THIS WEEK Coach Steve Adlard?s Marquette men?s soccer team (9-5-0, 4-2-0) opens the stretch drive this week with a pair of significant match-ups. On Wed., Oct. 20, the Golden Eagles travel to Rochester, Mich., to battle Great Lakes Region rival Oakland in a 4 p.m. (CT) game. Marquette closes out the weekend with another Saturday night special, hosting Conference USA foe South Florida at Valley Fields on Sat., Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. That game should prove critical in helping the Golden Eagles determine their seed in the C-USA Tournament.

LAST WEEK After having their eight-game win streak broken the previous Sunday, the Golden Eagles were eager to get back on the winning track last week. However, their plans were delayed several days by the weather. Up 1-0 at Wright State on Wed., Oct. 13, the Golden Eagles were left unsatisfied when the game was suspended due to heavy rains and a tornado warning. It is yet to be determined if the game will be made up.

Marquette finally did get back in the win column in what turned out to be its lone game of the week on Sat., Oct. 16, when the Golden Eagles scored a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory over #25 Cincinnati at the Valley. Despite being statistically outplayed for stretches of the game, Marquette chalked up the win in the 115th minute of action when Sean Reti (Brookfield, Wis. / East) got behind the Bearcat backline, raced around the UC keeper and put the ball into the back of an unprotected net. Junior keeper Greg Guglielmino (Mesa, Ariz. / Phoenix JC) earned C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season for his nine-save performance against the Bearcats. The win was the ninth of the season for Marquette, equaling the win total from last season, when the Golden Eagles went 9-11-1.

OAKLAND AT A GLANCE In only their second season of Division I play, coach Gary Parsons? Golden Grizzlies have established themselves as one of the most formidable teams in the Great Lakes Region. Despite tying Western Michigan 0-0 and getting upset 2-1 at Valparaiso last week, Oakland is still 9-3-2 and ranked #8 in the Great Lakes Region. In his 19th year at Oakland, Parsons has a 267-73-35 (.759) record. A strong defensive unit, his Golden Grizzlies are lead this year by sophomore goalie Mike Skolnik and junior striker Paul Snape. The 6-1 Skolnik has played every minute in net and has a 0.75 goals against average (GAA), 54 saves and nine shutouts. Snape lead Oakland with nine goals, five assists and 23 points. The all-time Marquette/Oakland series is tied 1-1. The Golden Grizzlies earned their first-ever Division I victory at Marquette early last season, defeating the Golden Eagles 1-0.

SOUTH FLORIDA AT A GLANCE A perennial contender for the C-USA title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, South Florida finds itself in an unfamiliar eighth place in the league standings entering this week. Second-year head coach John Hackworth?s Bulls are 5-6-0 overall and 1-3-0 in C-USA play. South Florida went 1-1 last weekend at South Carolina?s Sunbeam Soccer Classic, defeating the College of Charleston 3-2 before losing to the host Gamecocks 3-2 on Sun., Oct. 17. The Bulls feature two of the league?s most potent scorers from a year ago. However, while Kevin Alvero paces USF with nine goals and 21 points, Preseason All-American candidate Brian Waltrip has struggled, scoring only six points thus far. Bubby Leasure has started eight games in goal, but Mike McBride started both games last weekend. The pair of seniors has jointly posted a 2.34 GAA to go along with 62 saves. Hackworth has compiled a 17-14-2 (.545) mark in his two seasons. Marquette is seeking its first-ever win against the Bulls, who holds a 4-0-0 series lead. South Florida handed Marquette a Valley Fields-record 6-0 loss last season.

HEAD COACH STEVE ADLARD With the win over Wisconsin earlier this season, Marquette?s Steve Adlard now has the distinction of having led the Golden Eagles to an eight-game win streak, the longest in the program?s 36-year history. He took his Golden Eagles to the C-USA semifinals for the third time in four seasons in 1998, when MU concluded the year with a 9-11-1 record . Now in his eighth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles, Adlard has compiled an 87-62-14 (.577) mark. He led MU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament and C-USA regular-season title in 1997. Adlard is second on the Marquette winning percentage list and has led the Golden Eagles to winning seasons in five of the last six seasons. With Marquette?s victory against UW-Milwaukee on Sept. 30, 1998, he moved into second on the MU career wins list. A former goalkeeper for the British universities national team, Adlard previously was the head coach at UNC Asheville and Davis & Elkins. He is a 1972 graduate of Loughborough University in Loughborough, England. Adlard has an overall record of 140-120-23 (.535) in 13 years. He is assisted by Bryan Mogford and Dan Holcomb.

IN THE POLLS The Golden Eagles moved up to fifth in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region ranking this week. In the remainder of the NSCAA Regional Rankings: Portland is #6 and Washington #8 in the Far West, Cincinnati and Oakland are #4 and #8, respectively, in the Great Lakes, Saint Louis is #1, Creighton tied for #3, UMKC #7 and DePaul #9 in the Midwest, and UAB is #7 in the South. Marquette is not ranked in any national polls this week, however several Golden Eagles? opponents did garner national recognition. C-USA rival Saint Louis is #2 in the NSCAA poll and #3 in Soccer America. Creighton is #12 in the NSCAA poll and #14 in the Soccer America poll. Portland and Cincinnati both dropped out of the polls this week, but both teams received votes in the NSCAA poll.

RETI FOR ACTION Reti, a 5-6 sophomore, has two goals this season and both of them have been game-winners in overtime. His most recent heroics capped off the 2-1 overtime upset of #25 Cincinnati this past Saturday. Unmarked behind the Bearcat defense, Reti ran on to a lob from teammate Ryan Taylor and pushed the ball past a lunging Cincinnati keeper before firing it into an unprotected. Reti has adapted well to a lineup switch from striker to wide attacking midfielder this season and is second on the team with 11 points on two goals and a team-high seven assists.

HEADERS Marshall Morehead (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater Area) stayed atop the C-USA scoring leaders with the opening goal against Cincinnati. The 6-0 junior striker worked a stylish give-and-go with classmate Andy Hunter and converted from 13 yards out to finish off the break-away. His 12 goals and 25 points continue to lead the league, and the 25 points is the most by a Golden Eagle since Drew Watzka tallied 34 in 1996. Depending on the continuance of the Wright State game, Morehead may already have 13 goals, as he had provided the lone score in the game before it was suspended in the 28th minute. He is one of three Golden Eagles to have started all 14 games this season.

G-MAN Guglielmino went the distance against the nationally-ranked Bearcats, making a Marquette career-high nine saves en route to his eighth win of the season. Based on that game, Guglielmino picked up his second C-USA Defensive Player of the Week Award of 1999. He is now 8-2 with a 1.09 GAA, four shutouts and 42 saves.

AROUND THE NET Besides leading a solid team defensive effort, junior midfielder Andy Hunter (Swaffham, England / Hamonds) and freshman sweeper Steve Lawrence (Brookfield, Wis. / Marquette) both tallied assists against Cincinnati ? Hunter contributed the helper on Morehead?s goal for his fourth point of the season ? Lawrence initialized the sequence that led to Reti?s game-winning goal by intercepting a pass at midfield and finding senior Ryan Taylor (Kansas City, Mo. / Rockhurst), who found Reti with a lob over the Bearcat defense ? it was the first collegiate point for Lawrence ? the Golden Eagles are 9-1 with Lawrence in the starting lineup at sweeper ? the assist was Taylor?s third point of the season ? freshman Eric Marshall (Waukesha, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the season-opener and generated several scoring opportunities.

C-USA LEADERS Marquette has several players ranked among the C-USA statistical leaders. Morehead leads the league with 25 points and 12 goals, and is third with 40 shots. Reti is tied for third with seven assists and is tied for eighth with 28 shots. Jeremiah Bass is tied for ninth with four assists. Guglielmino is fourth with a 1.09 GAA, eighth with 42 saves and second with four shutouts.

Among the team leaders, Marquette is fourth with 64 points and 22 assists, tied for fourth with 152 shots, and is tied for fifth with 21 goals. On the defensive side of the ball, the Golden Eagles are fourth with a 1.39 GAA, eighth with 49 saves and tied for third with four shutouts.

MARQUETTE SOCCER ON THE NET The Marquette men?s soccer website contains all of the most recent information on the Golden Eagles. Weekly media releases, current statistics and results, Conference USA standings and game stories and reviews can be found at: www.gomarquette.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact Marquette assistant sports information director Josh Sutter at (414) 288-6980 or at: joshua.sutter@marquette.edu