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David Goldsmith scored twice for Butler in the first half and the Bulldogs held on to defeat Marquette men's soccer on Saturday night by a final score of 2-0. With the loss, Marquette is officially eliminated from the Big East tournament.
The Golden Eagles sit at 5-9-2 overall after the defeat, and 1-6-1 in Big East play. Their four points has them trailing the sixth and final playoff spot by six points with just one match to play. It will be the first time since 2008 that MU will not qualify for the conference tournament.
With redshirt junior Mac Wheeler making his first ever collegiate start (and second ever appearance) in net for the Golden Eagles, Marquette took the advantage in the early going. Marquette outshot Butler 3-1 in the first 20 minutes, forcing Butler keeper Eric Dick to make two saves to keep the game scoreless. Goldsmith got on the board in the 23rd minute off some fancy footwork on a secondary attack on a corner kick. Butler was able to keep it away from the Golden Eagles for a clearance and eventually Vincent Mitchell made a tiny scooping cross to Goldsmith for the header finish deep in the six-yard box.
Goldsmith tacked on in the 30th minute, again on a header. This one was a bit more on the lucky side, as Goldsmith flicked a Jeff Adkins free kick towards the far post and got an assist from geometry and physics to knock it into the net off the post.
Marquette would have an advantage on shots in the second half, 7-5, and ultimately finished tied with the Bulldogs with 12 shots each. The final three shots of the match all came off of Marquette feet, but ultimately, MU ended up getting shut out for the fifth time this season.
Up Next: The Golden Eagles have one final match to wrap up the 2015 season, as they look to avoid losing 10 matches in one season for the first time since finishing 4-11-3 in 2009. They'll be in Chicago on Thursday afternoon to face DePaul (4-12-1, 3-4-1 Big East), who will be looking to clinch a Big East tournament slot for themselves.