Sunesson Leads Marquette To 3-1 Win at Creighton

OMAHA, Neb. — The Marquette men's soccer team (5-5-1, 2-2-1 BIG EAST) picked up three points on the road in BIG EAST play, defeating Creighton 3-1 behind a career-night from striker Lukas Sunesson.

MU captured the momentum early on, recording five shots in the first 20 minutes of action. It was the sixth shot that finally found the mark, as Sunesson scored his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Edrey Caceres in the 25th minute.

The Golden Eagles didn't wait long long to tack on another. In the 29th minute, it was Christian Marquez finding redshirt freshman forward Beto Soto on the right side of the post with a well-placed ball, which Soto headed into the back of the net to make it a 2-0 contest.

"I'm so happy for our guys. I thought we played really well, and it keeps us in the hunt," said Marquette head coach Louis Bennett. "We escaped the first 10 minutes, managing to keep our head above water, then slowly but surely we started chipping away. I thought we went through a 30-minute stretch in the first half of playing some of the best soccer we've played in a while."

MU maintained the two-goal advantage until the 41st minute, when a Golden Eagle player was called for a hand ball in the penalty box which resulted in a free kick for Creighton's Daniel Espeleta. Marquette keeper Chandler Hallwood guessed correctly as he dove to his left, but the ball snuck past his fingertips into the corner of the net to put the Bluejays on the board.

After taking a 2-1 lead into halftime, MU didn't wait long to extend it. Just under 30 seconds after the second half kickoff, Sunesson scored once again with a right-footed shot off the post, deflected into the net. While Sunesson picked up his team-leading fifth goal of the season, redshirt junior midfielder Zyan Andrade picked up his team-leading fifth assist of the campaign. Sunesson recorded a career-high six shots, four of which were on goal.

"Lukas Sunesson was our man of the match, that was probably one of the finest games he's played for us," Bennett said. "A lot of players played really well, but he was exceptional. His second goal really put some distance between us."

Creighton was left to play the final 40 minutes of the match with just 10 men on the field after midfielder Jackson Castro was sent off with a red card.

UP NEXT: Marquette remains on the road as the head east to face the UConn Huskies (4-4-1, 0-3-1 BIG EAST) on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. (CST) at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium.

Keep up with the Marquette men's soccer program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteSoccer) and Instagram (@MarquetteSoccer) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteSoccer).