Marquette men’s soccer (4-2-2, 0-2-0 Big East) opened Big East play on a 0-1 loss to Creighton last week.
Saturday, the conference home-opener against Seton Hall (4-2-3, 2-0-0) was a chance for redemption.
But even on home turf and in the presence of alumni players, the Golden Eagles could not find enough intensity or momentum to grab even a single point, losing 2-0 and remaining winless in conference play.
“We didn’t play to what the best of our ability would be,” Marquette head coach David Korn said. “I feel like we were not where we needed to be tonight.”
There were glimpses of the intensity and momentum the team was displaying earlier this season.
Junior midfielder Nico Pendleton’s side volley in the 14th minute did find the back of the net, but was ultimately disallowed as offsides. Senior defender Kyle Bebej sent a picturesque curved shot in the 32nd, just in reach of the goalie.
But picturesque has no correlation in the game of soccer: either it goes in or it doesn’t. And Seton Hall made it happen in the 34th minute thanks to Aidan Tisony.
Marquette went into the locker room at half with zero of its four shots on goal to Seton Hall’s five on goal out of seven. By the end, both teams ended up 13 shots a piece, but the home team put only two on goal compared to the visitor’s six.
Another one of those six ended up in the back of sophomore goalkeeper Cameron Simpson’s net in the 52nd minute, and the Golden Eagles played out the final 40 minutes unable to recover any points — or goals.
Still outscoring their opponents 13-9 on the season, it’s not that they can’t score goals, it’s about doing so each and every time they step onto the pitch.
“We have individuals that we know can score so the composure in those moments needs to be better,” Korn said. “For the shots we had I thought there was opportunities to have more.”
They’ll have another go at it next Friday against Xavier at 7 p.m. CST at Valley Fields.
This recap was written by Sofie Hanrahan. She can be reached @Sofia.hanrahan@marquette.edu or on X @SofieHanrahanMU.