First of all, let’s look at the lone goal from the 1-0 loss to Providence that Marquette men’s soccer suffered on Friday night in Rhode Island.
I don’t know if there was anything that Marquette keeper Cameron Simpson was going to do about that one, and that’s how it goes sometimes, tip of the cap to Sam Montalto on the game winner.
That was in the 32nd minute and at the time, it broke a 4-4 tie in the shots department in the match. For the next hour-ish, Providence outshot Marquette 7-3, including a 5-2 advantage after halftime. The Golden Eagles did not manage to attempt a single shot after the 66th minute, and given that eventually Providence would have wanted to start laying back a bit to defend their lead, that’s kind of bad for Marquette. Instead of laying back, the Friars managed a shot and two offsides calls in the final eight minutes of the match.
That’s how Marquette fell to 0-5-0 with one goal scored in Big East action this season: Unable to muster much of an attack for 25 minutes and maybe on the verge of giving up an insurance goal in the closing minutes.
Blech.
Five losses leaves Marquette with zero points in league action and just three matches left to go. That’s a maximum of nine points possible for the Golden Eagles and…. yep, they have been eliminated from the Big East tournament. Creighton has reached 10 points thanks to a 1-1 draw with Villanova on Friday, so Marquette can not win the Midwest Division. Seton Hall and Providence have reached nine points in the East Division thanks to a draw with Akron for the Pirates and this win over MU recapped here, and the two best non-division winners earn wild card entry to the conference tournament. MU already has losses to the Pirates and the Friars this season, so they lose the head to head tiebreakers if they would be lucky enough to finish out the year with wins over DePaul, Akron, and Villanova, and thus: Eliminated with three weeks left to go.
Up Next: Marquette actually has four matches left on their docket this season. They’ll play their final non-conference match of the year on Tuesday when they host Edgewood for Senior Night. First kick is set for 7pm Central, and ESPN+ will have the broadcast. The Division 3 Eagles are 11-1-2 this season and have scored 17 goals in their last three matches combined, all shutout wins.
