MU Falls in BIG EAST Opener to Creighton

MILWAUKEE—The Marquette University men's soccer team fell short in a 1-0 loss to Creighton in tonight's BIG EAST opener at Valley Fields.

MU earned a plethora of scoring chances throughout the evening, posting 17 shots (eight on goal), but failed to breakthrough. The game was scoreless through 85 minutes before CU's Daniel Espeleta scored the lone goal of the evening.

"The amount of chances we had tonight was enough to score at least one goal," MU head coach Louis Bennett said. "We hit the side of the net, we hit the post, the [Creighton] keeper made some great saves. If we just keep putting ourselves in those scoring positions, we're going to put one away."

The first half saw the Golden Eagles outshoot the Bluejays, 7-6. Perhaps their best chance came in the 37^th minute, when senior midfielder Luka Prpa danced around his defender to open an impressive scoring opportunity for Lukas Sunesson, whose shot sailed just wide of the net.

"We had plenty of chances to score tonight," Sunesson said. "Obviously I'm sad about the loss and wanted to finish one of those chances tonight, but all we can do is move on to the next game and try to improve."

MU's best scoring opportunity came in the 64^th minute, when a Josh Coan right-footed strike from the top of the box looked to be destined for the top right corner of the net. However, the shot skipped off the outside of the net and the game remained scoreless.

Josh Coan nearly breaks a scoreless tie with a strike that sails just wide and hit the right side of the net.

〽️- 0
🐦- 0 pic.twitter.com/j4l4RlHgsq
— Marquette Soccer (@marquettesoccer) September 21, 2019

CU tallied the lone goal in the 86^th minute when Daniel Espeleta put home a cross from Younes Boudadi with a volley into the lower left corner past a diving Jackson Weyman. Weyman, faced 18 shots on the evening and saved four of the five shots the Bluejays put on goal.

Another great save from Jackson Weyman in the net to keep the game scoreless.

〽️- 0
🐦- 0 pic.twitter.com/k4XJilGLPd
— Marquette Soccer (@marquettesoccer) September 21, 2019

With the loss, the Golden Eagles drop to 2-3-1 (0-1-0) on the year, while the Bluejays improve to 4-2-1 (1-0-0)

UP NEXT:
MU returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. CT when they travel to Madison, Wisconsin to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. MU won't play at Valley Fields until Tuesday, Oct. 1, when St. Louis University comes to town.