Men's Soccer Swamped By Pilots

Sept. 4, 1999

PORTLAND, Ore.

The Marquette men?s soccer team opened the 1999 season on a sour note this afternoon, suffering a 7-0 loss to host Portland in the Adidas Invitational. The Pilots kept the Golden Eagles at bay throughout the game, as Marquette could muster only one shot against one of the nation?s stiffest defenses.

?You can?t really put your finger on the problem,? Marquette head coach Steve Adlard said. ?It was an experienced Portland team against a new team. They had a game plan that we couldn?t stop and we never recognized the problem.?

The ?new team? Adlard referred to, of course, was Marquette, which had five freshmen in the starting lineup and played two keepers who had never seen action on the Division I level. Portland, with 13 letterwinners, including seven starters, returning from last season, took advantage of the young Golden Eagle squad. After an evenly-played opening to the match, the Pilots got on the board at the 19:26 mark when Sheldin Maistry knocked a shot over MU starting keeper Todd Schramm. Portland then got two goals from Conor Casey and one from Casey Barber to take a 4-0 lead into the lockerroom.

?They had the advantage in the early-going, but there was still no score,? Adlard said. ?But when we gave up that first goal, that just opened things up. When we settled down and were knocking the ball around we looked comfortable, but with an inexperienced squad like we had out there today we have to do more than just knock it around.?

Portland?s Kelly Gray netted each of the three Pilot second-half goals to close out the scoring. Pilot keepers Curtis Spiteri and Michael Lahood split the shutout, having to make no saves in doing so.

?Starting a freshman lineup - you just can?t do it against a team like Portland,? Adlard said. ?At times we had as many as seven freshmen out there together. But we just have to take our lumps and learn - unfortunately the score got stretched so that we feel badly and it looks bad.?

Marquette stays in Portland for its second game in the Adidas Invitational on Mon., Sept. 6, when MU takes on 11th-ranked Washington. The Golden Eagles and the Huskies are slated for a 2 p.m. (CT) kick-off.

GAME RECAP

Portland 7, Marquette 0

Marquette 0 0 0

Portland 4 3 7

First Half: 1, UP, Maistry (Casey, Winters) 19:26, 2, UP, Casey (Winters) 27:31, 3, UP, Casey (Barber) 32:38, 4, UP, Barber (Casey) 43:09.

Second Half: 5, UP, Gray (Luna) 50:19, 6, UP, Gray (Luna) 74:47, 7, UP, Gray (Luna) 83:37.

Shots: Marquette 1, Portland 16

Corners: Marquette 2, Portland 3

Saves: Marquette 2 (Schramm 1, Guglielmino 1), Portland 0

Fouls: Marquette 16, Portland 12

Att.: 1,971