Men's Soccer Falls to UIC, 3-1

Sunday, September 2

Chicago, Ill.

6:00 PM

Marquette University

0-2-0

UIC

1-0-0

Marquette

UIC

9/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Sept. 2, 2007

Box Score

CHICAGO - The Marquette men's soccer team dropped a 3-1 decision at UIC in its final contest before its home opener on September 7.

Junior Dan Addis scored for the Golden Eagles in the 55th minute after being down 2-0. The Golden Eagles created a corner kick, one of its five for the match. Addis started the corner and finished off the scrum in front of the net when he and freshman Josh Belfrage attacked the loose ball.

Down one goal at that point, play started to pick up for Marquette. Thanks to some timely substitutions and gritty effort, Marquette had chances, owning the majority of play in the final 35 minutes and creating some opportunities.

"At 2-1, we started to get the swing of the game in our favor," head coach Louis Benentt said. "With Josh Belfrage and Sam Etim in at the same time, we started to hold the ball and create more legitimate opportunities."

Belfrage was a first-half substitute, but it was in the second half where he made the difference. He was playing in his first collegiate game and proved he can be a difference maker on the collegiate level, according to Bennett.

UIC, however, extended the lead to 3-1 just six minutes after MU's goal when Pat McMahon finished off a goal on an assist by Pavel Dundjer.

"It was a situation where there attacker just jumped higher then our defenders," Bennett said.

Marquette, kept attacking, however, and created a significant goal scoring opportunity late on a corner kick. Freshman Stefan Antonijevic finished off the scrum with a shot that hit the post before UIC cleared the loose ball.

After a scoreless first half, UIC got on the board first with a goal in the Matt Spies scored the match's first goal just over three minutes after halftime. A free kick by Charlie Trout was sent wide to Pat McMahon, who centered to Spiess who headed past Marquette freshman goalkeeper Steve Purdy.

Spiess started the Flames' second goal. In the 53rd minute, he took the ball deep in to the left corner before centering a pass to the foot of Dan Simek. After MU's goal cut the Flames lead to one, UIC extended the lead just six minutes later when McMahon finished off an assist by Pavel Dundjer.

"Today, we took three or four body shots, but we came back swinging," Bennett said. "We're starting to see some of the things that we would assume happen. Our players know that we are very close. Close doesn't get you wins, but we're going to start seeing results go our way."

Bennett added that his team continued to work hard for the 90 minutes and that taking care of business at home will be a priority of his team. Additionally, he credited UIC for being the better team and for having a spirited environment with nearly 1,000 fans in which to play.

"Were we the better team today? No, but we started to do more things right in the end then our opponent," he said. "This was a real awakening today. It was a great environment and I think it woke up some of our freshmen. It's all something they wanted to be a part of, but it was a bit of a shock to some of them at first."

In the week leading to its next contest, Bennett said Marquette would focus on tightening up the interior midfield and defending set pieces, two of the areas that seem to be areas in need of improvement.

The midfield will come as more depth comes about. Missing from the current rotation are freshmen Adam Frydman, Niklas Dagervik and Dan Bauer, along with keeper Matt Pyzdrowski.

"In missing the three freshmen who can all play in the midfield and our no. 1 keeper, we're missing a lot in the central part of the field," Bennett said. "Having those three who can all play midfield will give us a solid rotation to play a strong game in the midfield. A lot of college teams rotate the midfield so they can be fresh for 90 minutes."

The Golden Eagles return to action in its home opener, hosting Xavier at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 7 at Valley Fields.