No. 21 Marquette Hosts DePaul Wednesday

MILWAUKEE – The No. 21 Marquette men's soccer team starts a three-game home stand on Wednesday when the DePaul Blue Demons come to town. First touch from Valley Fields is set for 6 p.m. Central time and GoMarquette.com will provide live stats and streaming coverage. Patrick Reed will be on the call.

The Golden Eagles (6-1-1, 3-1-1 BIG EAST) are off to their best start to a season since the 2012 BIG EAST championship season (started 12-0). So far in 2021, MU has outscored its opponents 11-5 with four clean sheets and has gotten scoring contributions from seven different players. Junior striker Lukas Sunesson is in the midst of a breakout season, leading the team and ranking second in the BIG EAST with five goals. He's joined up front by budding star Beto Soto, a freshman from Tomball, Texas who's scored three goals (two game-winners) in 2021. Junior midfielder Zyan Andrade has been a breath of fresh air as well, netting two game winning goals and dishing out an assist.

DePaul (2-3-2, 2-3-0 BIG EAST) responded to a home loss to MU on March 6 by winning two straight games over Xavier (3-2) and Creighton (2-1) before losing 1-0 in overtime to Butler on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Demons are in fourth place in the BIG EAST Midwest Division but have hopes of making a late season push to break into the conference tournament conversation.

Head Coach Louis Bennett looks to push towards being the second coach in school history to hit the 100-career win mark (Steve Adlard, 1992-05, 140 wins), by clinching his 98th win on Wednesday.

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 97th game as the Marquette University head coach against Creighton on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles have won six of their first eight games for the first time since 2012 and the second time in Coach Bennett's tenure.
MU is 8-2-3 in the last 13 overtime games under Coach Bennett.
Lukas Sunesson (5 goals, 1 assist) has already set a new season high in points (11).
Chandler Hallwood has been spectacular in net for Marquette. Twice he's been named BIG EAST Keeper of the Week and he ranks second in in saves (35) and first in save percentage (.875).
Newcomers have accounted for five of Marquette's 11 goals this season. Beto Soto has three of those goals while Zyan Andrade has two. Returners Sunesson (5) and Cukaj (1) have the others.
Six of Marquette's eight games in 2021 have gone to overtime. MU is 4-1-1 in those games.

OPPONENT FORM:
DEPAUL (2-3-2, 2-3-0 BIG EAST)
Head coach Mark Plotkin begins his third season at the helm of DePaul. Plotkin, who was a four-year starter as a Blue Demon from 2006-2009, holds a 12-22-6 overall record through three seasons at DePaul.

The Blue Demons tied their first two games against Northern Illinois (2-2) and Loyola Chicago (0-0). They opened BIG EAST play against Butler with a 5-0 loss to the Bulldogs and a 3-1 loss to Marquette before winning two straight games over Xavier (3-2) and Creighton (2-1). DPU dropped its first game in two weeks on Saturday with a 1-0 overtime loss to Butler.

The Blue Demons are led by striker Jake Fuderer, who's scored three goals along with one assist in 2021. Timmy Iscra is the only other DePaul player with multiple goals this season while three players have one goal each. Starting keeper Drew Nuelle has played every minute in net this season, ranking first in the conference in saves (36).

SERIES HISTORY:
Marquette holds the edge in the all-time series, owning a 28-6-1 record against DePaul. MU defeated the Blue Demons 3-1 on March 6 in Chicago, led by a brace from Lukas Sunesson. The Golden Eagles have won three straight and five of the last seven in the series.

LAST TIME OUT:
The Marquette men's soccer team defeated the Creighton Bluejays 2-1 in overtime. Beto Soto scored his third goal of the season in the first half. Zyan Andrade got credit for the assist and also scored the game-winner to send the Golden Eagles into an emphatic celebration.

KEY POINTS:

MU OFF TO BEST START SINCE 2012 SEASON

The Marquette men's soccer team (6-1-1, 3-1-1 BIG EAST) is off to its best start since the 12-0 start to the 2012 BIG EAST Championship season.
The Golden Eagles have needed extra time for their three victories to start the spring 2021 season. All three games against Loyola Chicago, Northern Illinois and Saint Louis 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 Feb. 7, taking a one-touch goal off a marvelous cross from Alex Mirsberger five minutes into the first overtime.
Junior midfielder transfer Zyan Andrade scored his first career goal in a win over Saint Louis on Feb. 13, MU's first win over the Billikens since 2002.
MU finally met its overtime match against Creighton on Feb. 20, falling 2-1 in the 105th minute.
MU also holds a 3-1 win over DePaul (March 6) and a 2-1 win over Xavier (March 17) in addition to a 0-0 draw with Butler (March 10).
The Golden Eagles are 3-2-2 in their past seven overtime games under Bennett.

SUNESSON MAKING A NAME 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 and he's well on his way to hitting them.
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 Feb. 7. He scored his team-leading second goal of the year in the Feb. 20 loss to Creighton. He then went on two net a brace in a 3-1 win at DePaul.
The junior added to his total with his team-leading fifth marker of the year to open the scoring in a 2-1 win over Xavier. He also tallied his first assist in a 2-1 win at Creighton (March 20).

CHANDLER HALLWOOD IS A GAME-CHANGER AT GOALKEEPER:

Sophomore keeper Chandler Hallwood has made his mark in his first five games at MU. The Gannon University transfer is 5-1-1 with 35 saves, an .875 save percentage and a 0.64 goals allowed average.
He was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week on Feb. 15 and March 22 and he's helped keep four clean sheets.
He saved a career-high seven shots on Feb. 20 against Creighton. Although he gave up two goals, his seven saves still helped him earn BIG EAST Honor Roll accolades.
Hallwood tied his career-best with seven saves against Xavier on Wednesday.

ANDRADE PROVIDING A BOOST:

San Francisco transfer Zyan Andrade has been a key part of Marquette's eight-game start to the season. He ranks third on the team in goals with two while also tallying an assist.
Both of his goals were overtime game winners (vs. SLU, Feb. 13 and at CU, March 20). He never scored in two seasons at San Francisco.

SOTO MAKES A STATEMENT:

A freshman from Tomball, Texas, striker Beto Soto has taken the BIG EAST by storm in 2021. He's scored three goals in eight games thus far, two of which were eventual game-winning goals.
His first one came in the season opener against Loyola Chicago as he scored the Golden Goal to help MU win 1-0 in OT. His second was a free kick that curled inside the right post to put MU up 2-1 on March 6 at DePaul. His third was at Creighton in a 2-1 win on March 20.

UP NEXT:
The Golden Eagles host Butler on senior day, which will be Saturday, March 27 at 4 p.m. Central time.

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).