Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
1-0-1
Denver
0-1-1
Men's Soccer Ties Denver, 0-0
8/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 27, 2006
MILWAUKEE - The Marquette men's soccer team played to a 0-0 tie against Denver in the Golden Eagles' first home contest of the 2006 season. A boisterous crowd of 721, including a solid contingent in the new behind-the-goal-line student section, witnessed the tie, which was the first regular-season home contest in the Louis Bennett era.
"It was a great atmosphere, I have to state that," Bennett said. "It was certainly good to see the support for Marquette soccer that we got today."
Both teams were coming off of games Friday night and the short turnaround left both teams sluggish at times. The game was defensive for most of the 110 minutes of action. Denver (0-1-1) outshot Marquette (1-0-1) 13-8. Each team had chances to score, albeit sporadic throughout the contest.
"We wanted to get the midfielders behind the defense with scoring opportunities but we didn't do that today," Bennett said. "In the first half, we struggled to maintain possession, but there were bright spots. That's the way soccer is. You have to look at the positives instead of the negatives. The main positive is that we still haven't lost this season."
Denver had the first real chance. With five minutes left in the first half, James Merriman capped off a Denver restart with a 10 yard shot in the middle of the box. MU goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski smothered the attempt. Pyzdrowski had six saves in his first career shutout.
"Pyzdrowski kept the ball out of the net and that is a big positive," Bennett said. "He did a good job of making the saves he needed to make today."
Late in the second half, Marquette's biggest opportunity came in the 77th minute. Nick Kay had a long one-on-one run, but Denver keeper Joe Willis fell on the ball 16 yards from goal that squirmed away from Kay. Denver had an effort near the end of the game. With 40 seconds left, Denver's' Collin Audley placed a header on goal that Pyzdrowski dove to his left to save.
In the extra session, Denver's Mike Seager placed a solid cross that just went wide with 2:05 left to play in the second overtime. Marquette's Matt Blouin nearly finished off a Marquette counter attack at the 1:07 remaining mark in the second overtime for MU's best chance in the extra time. A last second effort from Denver's Jacob Chase gave MU fans a scare as he placed a shot from eight yards out with five seconds remaining that was saved by Pyzdrowski.
Despite the draw, Bennett was critical of the team's offensive performance.
"We have to be more exciting in what we create," he added. " We promised a brand of exciting soccer, and today, we just weren't that exciting. When we provide the excitement, which I'm sure we will, people will come back."
Marquette returns to action on Saturday, September 2 taking on Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles at 2 p.m. (PDT).
--MU--
