Men's Soccer Falls at Cincinnati, 3-1

Sept. 15, 2006

CINCINNATI, Ohio - Behind two goals from preseason BIG EAST offensive player of the year Omar Cummings, Cincinnati defeated Marquette, 3-1. Senior forward Matt Blouin scored late for Marquette (1-6-1, 0-3 BIG EAST), but not enough time was left for a Golden Eagle comeback.

Cincinnati (3-3-1, 1-2 BIG EAST) got on the board first in the 15th minute when Cummings scored his third goal of the year, cleaning up a rebound from a shot by Mike Dwyer. Marquette keeper Matt Pyzdrowski made one of his seven saves on the Dwyer shot, but couldn't control the rebound for the Bearcat goal. The goal put a damper on a strong start for Marquette, who created opportunities in the games first few minutes.

"The start of the game was a bit back and forth, but we had the first chance of the game," Associate Head Coach Stan Anderson said. "We allowed them to counter and Pyzdrowski made a good initial first save, but Omar Cummings is a good player and he's going to score if you give him that type of chance."

Cummings added his second goal in the 53rd minute. His shot from 20 yards was deflected in a crowd off an MU defender, leaving Pyzdrowski defenseless against the redirected attempt.

"He was definitely the best player on the pitch tonight," Anderson said. "Cummings is dangerous. They've been having trouble scoring goals lately, but he helped them get out of that tonight."

Marcus Hariston capped Cincinnati's scoring in the 66th minute, scoring off assists from Kenny Anaba and Kieron Gradwell.

"This is Division I soccer and in any game, anyone can punish you if you don't perform well enough," Anderson added. "Do we need to be tighter on defense? Yes, but Cummings was dangerous tonight and he's a difficult player to stop."

In the 83rd minute, Blouin scored his second of the year capping off a deep throw in from junior Mike Carlson.

"Goals can change a mood for weeks," Anderson said. "In this case, no one quit out there tonight. No one on this team ever quits."

Marquette was able to create opportunities in the match, even pushing to score more in the latter moments of the contest, creating a corner kick opportunity and penetrating deep into the Cincinnati end in the final 10 minutes.

Having switched keepers each of the last two matches at the half, Marquette played Pyzdrowski for 90 minutes this contest. He made seven saves.

"Pyz made some fantastic saves tonight," Anderson said. "Both keepers (Pyzdrowski and senior Marc Dettmann) are fantastic. We have been giving up goals and we needed to figure out a reason why, so we made the change in the last two games. We're confident that both keepers are quality Division I goalkeepers and we need to have both ready to play."

The Golden Eagles have a day off before playing their third match in six days, taking on Louisville on the road. Despite being on a six match losing streak, Anderson is confident that if the team goes about its business and does what it knows how to do, it can be successful in the final game of this three-match road trip.

"We will work on what we know and train the way we know how," Anderson said. "Louisville is just our next opponent. We will continue to work on the things that we need to do to become better."

The Golden Eagles face Louisville on Sunday, September 17 at 1 p.m. EST in Louisville, Ky.

--MU--