MSOC Hosts Saint Louis Saturday Afternoon

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette men's soccer team started off its spring 2021 season with two thrilling overtime victories in the first week of the season. The Golden Eagles will look to follow their wins up with another strong performance against the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. Central time. Live stream and stats will be on GoMarquette.com.

In 2019, The Golden Eagles finished 8-9-1 and clinched their second straight BIG EAST tournament bid. MU had four All-BIG EAST selections, including a first, second and two third team selections. Two of the team's players, Patrick Seagrist and Luka Prpa, were selected in the first and second rounds, respectively, in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft.

Head coach Louis Bennett will lead the Marquette men's soccer team for the 15th consecutive season in the spring of 2021. He has 93 career wins at the helm of MU and will attempt to become the second coach in school history to hit the 100-career win mark (Steve Adlard, 1992-05, 140 wins).

STATS/STREAM:
Live streaming and live stats will be available for the match on GoMarquette.com.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Marquette head coach Louis Bennett won his 93rd game as MU head coach against Northern Illinois (Feb. 7).
Golden Eagle alum Danny Jarosz ('18) joined the coaching staff last year and is entering his first year as an assistant coach. He played and started in 13 games during his time as a student-athlete.
MU has won its first two games in 1-0 overtime thrillers. First, freshman Beto Soto scored the game-winner from Christian Marquez in the season-opener over Loyola Chicago. Lukas Sunesson was the hero in Sunday's tilt vs. NIU, netting the winner off an Alex Mirsberger cross.
The Golden Eagles return six starters and 15 letterwinners from their 2019 team. They also added 13 newcomers.
Departed seniors Connor Alba, Josh Coan, Luka Prpa and Patrick Seagrist were all named to All-BIG EAST teams last year. They also combined to score 48% (12-of-25) of the team's goals last year.
The Golden Eagles will have to replace 64.9% of their points (48-of-74) from a season ago.
MU went 8-2 in 2019 when outshooting its opponent and 6-2 when scoring first.
MU's leading returning scorers are Manuel Cukaj, Christian Marquez and Lukas Sunesson, who each netted three apiece in 2019. Alex Mirsberger (1 goal) is the only other rostered player to have scored a collegiate goal.
The Golden Eagles have used all three goalkeepers on the roster so far this season. Chandler Hallwood and Cedrik Stern have each collected victories after coming off the bench.

OPPONENT FORM:
SAINT LOUIS (2-0-0, 0-0-0 A-10)
Saint Louis, who went 10-7 overall and 6-2 in the A-10 in 2019, is led by third-year head coach Kevin Kalish. He is 16-11-7 in two years at SLU and 65-57-21 in eight seasons overall as a collegiate head coach. The Billikens return three players who drew All-Conference honors a year ago – Kipp Keller (second team and All-Rookie), Mujeeb Murana (All-Rookie) and Patrick Schulte (All-Rookie).

Saint Louis was picked to finish first in the A-10 Preseason Poll, receiving 145 points in the 13-team league. It is the ninth time in 16 years that Saint Louis has been picked as the A-10 preseason favorite.

Billikens junior Chase Niece scored twice to lift the Billikens to a 2-1 victory over McKendree Saturday to move to 2-0. The team opened its season with a 3-0 victory over Kansas City on Wednesday. Niece was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week after his two-goal performance Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY:
Saint Louis leads the all-time series against Marquette 23-3-2. SLU has gone 4-0-2 in the past six meetings against MU, including a 6-2 victory in 2019 at Valley Fields. The Golden Eagles last defeated the Billikens on Sept. 7, 2002 in a 1-0 game in Milwaukee.

LAST TIME OUT:
For the second time this week the Marquette University men's soccer won in walk-off fashion. This time the hero was junior striker Lukas Sunesson, who scored the golden goal five minutes into the first overtime period to lead MU to a 1-0 non-conference victory over Northern Illinois. Sunesson received a cross from sophomore defender Alex Mirsberger and tapped it into the back of the net to help the Golden Eagles (2-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) remain unbeaten.

KEY POINTS:

MU PICKED FOURTH IN BIG EAST MIDWEST DIVISION:

The Conference schedule will feature two geographic divisions this spring, with the Georgetown Hoyas as the unanimous favorite in the East Division and the Butler Bulldogs picked to win the Midwest Division.
The Marquette men's soccer team was picked to finish fourth in the Midwest Division in the BIG EAST Preseason Men's Soccer poll. Along with Butler, Creighton and Xavier were picked to finish ahead of MU in the Midwest standings.

2019 SEASON RECAP:

MU went 8-9-1 (4-5 BIG EAST) and made its second consecutive BIG EAST tournament trip in 2019. The Golden Eagles were the No. 6 seed and fell in the first round to Providence, 3-0. MU posted conference road wins at DePaul, Xavier and Villanova while defeating Butler at home. MU's top non-conference win came on Sept. 24 in a 2-0 win at Wisconsin.

MU STARTS OFF 2021 WITH TWO OVERTIME VICTORIES:

The Golden Eagles have needed extra time for their two victories to start the spring 2021 season. Both games against Loyola Chicago and Northern Illinois were tied 0-0 before being decided in the first overtime period.
Freshman striker Beto Soto was the hero in game one, taking a through-ball from Christian Marquez for a left-footed strike past the diving keeper.
Junior Lukas Sunesson netted his ninth career goal to defeat Northern Illinois on Sunday, taking a one-touch goal off a marvelous cross from Alex Mirsberger five minutes into the first overtime.
The Golden Eagles are 3-1-1 in their past five overtime games under Bennett.

SUNESSON LOOKS TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF:

A junior from Taby, Sweden, Lukas Sunesson is Marquette's most productive returning scorer in 2021. In 2018 he had five goals, which put him second on the team. His performance as a freshman earned him a spot on the BIG EAST All-Freshman team and he made an appearance on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
Last year, he played in all 18 games and tied for second on the team with three goals to go along with one assist. This spring he has huge goals he wants to accomplish.
Sunesson got on the board with his first goal of 2021 after a one-touch goal off a cross from Mirsberger sealed MU's victory over NIU on Sunday.

MU BOASTS INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR:

This year's roster features players from England (3), Brazil (2), Germany (2), Italy (2) and Sweden (1), as well as six different states. Head coach Louis Bennett has shown he can bring players from all around the world to MU. The flags of all nations represented by this year's roster are typically displayed behind team benches during home matches at Valley Fields.

NEWCOMERS SET TO COMPETE:

Head coach Louis Bennett has announced 13 signees for the 2020 recruiting class. The group includes eight freshmen and five transfers. Positionally, the team adds five forwards, three midfielders, four defenders and a goalkeeper.
"We're losing several guys from a very successful senior class," Bennett said. "Our staff worked hard to find a bevy of talented players who we can develop to step in and fill some holes in our roster. We're excited about the talent and versatility of this group."
MU will be looking to replace six seniors from last season, including all four All-BIG EAST honorees. Griffin Jende (two goals) also departed.

UP NEXT:
The Golden Eagles host Creighton to kick off BIG EAST play on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. Central time at Valley Fields. The game will be streamed on GoMarquette.com.

TICKETS:
As of now, no tickets will be sold for the spring 2021 season. Fans are not going to be permitted for home games inside the Valley Fields bubble for at least the first month of the season.

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