Marquette University Athletics
Men's Soccer Beats Drake, 1-0
3/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 9, 2005
MILWAUKEE - An early goal by Pat Knoelke and a solid performance in net by Steven Grow led Marquette to a 1-0 win over Drake.
Knoelke scored after some the ball changed possession several times in a short period of time near the Drake goal. He ran on a loose ball that was 18 yards away from goal as did drake defender Luke Frieberg. The two appeared to make contact with the ball at the same time, but Knoelke was able to power it past Frieberg and bent it into the upper right corner of the goal.
"It was a 50-50 ball and I got a good piece of it," Knoelke said.
Grow was solid in goal, making nine saves. He made two stellar saves in the first half, the first coming on a shot by Chris Hamburger, who blasted a 20-yard shot to the far post that Grow dove and saved. Later in the half, he snuffed a five-yard low blast from Drake's Gustavo Morais.
"I got out there and did what I needed to do," Grow said. "I played in a lot of these types of games last year -- high level, fast, and a bit sloppy. I was more comfortable than I would have been last year. We got the win and that's really all that matters."
Grow made one big save in the second half Drake's Bleka Siberz shot at the Marquette net to Grow's left from 10 yards out. Grow moved over to block the ball and Siberz quickly recovered and play another shot right at the Marquette net. Defender Nathan Sabich held the line and cleared the dangerous rebound.
"Sabich did a tremendous job of that clearance and it shows in the pride of this team," head coach Steve Adlard said. "This team didn't make excuses tonight. If this game were played 12 months ago, we might have let in a goal in the first half. Grow made two diving saves early, but nothing much happened to him after that. There were moments when Drake threatened well, but they were not that terribly dangerous."
Marquette has little time to recover. It will take on St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday, September 11 at 1 p.m. at Valley Fields. St. Francis is coming off a 1-1 tie at DePaul on Friday afternoon.
