Men's Soccer: A Look Back At The 2007 Season
12/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Dec. 5, 2007
MILWAUKEE - The Marquette men's soccer team finished the 2007 season with an improved record under second-year head coach Louis Bennett. Bennett and his staff have been charged with taking the Golden Eagles to the next level amidst the grueling schedule of the BIG EAST Conference. This past fall proved to be another leap in that direction.
"In all college sports, maturity and experience are huge," said Bennett. "The more mature you are as a team, the more likely you are to turn that corner. There will come a time with this team when we'll know that we have that capability. Going forward, their ability to perform consistently and their ability to keep up that level of consistency is very important."
Under Bennett's direction, Marquette has evolved this past season into a team that plays with the toughness to compete in the nation's elite conference -- The BIG EAST boasted seven teams in this year's NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship -- despite a youthful roster and a 2-12-4 overall record. But it's the youth of the Golden Eagles that is already beginning to lay the foundation of a cohesive unit.
"They definitely have the mentality to compete, and that was blatantly obvious, because we were not overwhelmed by top teams." Bennett said, reflecting on his team's growth in 2007. "We probably played at the level of the competition. Whereas, there will come a stage where the competition will have to play at our level. At one stage or another we played a lot of freshmen. There were a lot of freshmen who were very important to what we were trying to do."
That inexperience was apparent early on, as Marquette opened the 2007 season with a pair of losses on the road. The Golden Eagles fell 1-0 at Denver then dropped a 3-1 decision at No. 25 UIC before returning home to Valley Fields.
That's where, in the home opener on Sept. 7, Marquette scored twice in the first half to rally past Xavier for its first victory of 2007. The win also extended MU's win streak against the Musketeers to three games.
MU next played host to Green Bay. Although the Golden Eagles raced out to an early lead, the Phoenix scored the equalizer minutes into the second half and the two teams battled to a draw.
"Our ability to score and score multiple goals is still not there," said Bennett whose squad netted 12 goals in 18 regular season contests. "I think that's one area we will have to improve on."
Rightly stated, a series of 1-0 losses were to follow, beginning with a Golden Eagles' loss to No. 8 Notre Dame. The BIG EAST match up featured the largest attendance of the season at Valley Fields as over 1,500 fans packed the venue nestled along the Menomonee River. A two-game East Coast road swing saw Bennett's Golden Eagles fall by the same margin with a pair of lone-goal losses at Villanova and at Rutgers.
After a five-day layoff, Marquette welcomed fellow BIG EAST rival Louisville to The Valley. Another large crowd showed up to cheer on their beloved MU squad, but after nearly 80 scoreless minutes, the visiting Cardinals struck twice within a seven-minute period and escaped with 2-0 shutout.
Marquette ultimately ended its four-game skid in dramatic fashion. Nick Kay registered his first and second goals of the season, including a header from the top of the box in the 104th minute, as MU downed Cincinnati on Sept. 30 to earn its first-ever victory in the BIG EAST.
"I made the analogy that we were like a light-heavyweight fighting in a heavyweight division," said Bennett. "Sometimes we would get hit really hard and go down to one knee, but we never got knocked out - we kept bouncing back. There's resilience."
A bitter taste was left in the mouths of the Golden Eagle faithful, however, after MU suffered another 1-0 loss following the home stand, this time to the Bulldogs of Drake, on Oct. 3. The difficult defeat parlayed into a 5-1 loss at Seton Hall and continued into a 2-0 shutout at Providence.
The Golden Eagles made the long trip home from Rhode Island to take on in-state adversary Wisconsin. Although they didn't know it at the time, the contest versus the Badgers was going to be the Golden Eagles' fourth overtime match they'd play in the team's final five regular season games. The match ended in a draw, although MU led the contest for the first 85 minutes, but it helped bolster the confidence of a young squad.
"I didn't realize it right when we finished the season, but then I looked back at the last six games and saw all those overtime games - you must take a positive spin off of that," said Bennett. "When you are that close to winning games, you have to be able to smell it and taste it. We'll use those results to motivate us."
MU fell 2-1 to Georgetown at home then tied with West Virginia, 0-0, at The Valley. Connecticut, ranked No. 2 in the country, defeated the Golden Eagles by a final of 2-1 in overtime, which was also MU's final road game of the season. Marquette ended the regular season at home with a 1-1 draw against UW-Milwaukee and a tough 2-1 double-overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Nov. 3.
"I think we took some big steps this year becoming closer as a team, which was important as we had transfers come in and a huge freshman class," said freshman midfielder Scott Miller, who scored the Golden Eagles' lone goal at Seton Hall. "You could tell by the results. By the end of the year we were playing some of the best teams in the country and giving them a run for their money."
Destined to get better and committed to developing consistency and maturity, Bennett's team continued to train and practice together until the end of November. It's this type of focus and dedication to excellence that has made Bennett a proven winner throughout his coaching tenure.
"I want this squad to get used to managing school business and social business -- managing soccer with Marquette life this time of year while still training," said Bennett. "We're starting fresh. This is our 2008 preseason."
Bennett said he thought there were some positive improvements with some of younger players, namely Anthony Colaizzi, Scott Miller, and Matt Stummer. He also commented on the improving talents of Nick Kay and Dan Addis, among others. MU loses just one senior, Mike Carlson, to graduation, so Bennett is looking forward to having a strong nucleus return in 2008.
"Most of the teams in the BIG EAST have a real strong identity and style about the way they play," said Bennett. "It's a defining factor. The way that we work and the way that we train will help procure that kind of identity."
"Obviously we have been struggling, but we are not just waiting around for things to change," added Miller. "[The coaching staff is] taking a very active role in this, and we are excited with the way things are going. We lost some very close games this year to some very good teams. I think we are going in the right direction."
