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Ok, stick with me for a second.
On Friday, there's a tripleheader in the Valley, but only two games involve Marquette. The first match is the first part of the Marquette Invitational, a tournament that the women's soccer team is hosting. That contest will feature Loyola-Chicago playing South Dakota State. Then, approximately an hour after that match ends, Marquette's *men's* team takes the field against Nebraska-Omaha. The men's match will be followed almost immediately by the MU women's side squaring off against Northern Arizona. Everything make sense there?
Onwards to actual soccer talk.
Louis Bennett has been dealing with a shuffling lineup in his defense. John Pothast has been his usual stout self, but injuries have caused a bit of a stir around him in the lineup. Danny Jarosz got hurt during the season opener and hasn't played since. Jack Alberts was his replacement, but he ended up with a one game suspension for getting two yellow cards against Oregon State. That led to Reuben Sanchez getting his first start in the back line, and then on Monday against Dayton, Alberts replaced Jake Taylor in the starting lineup.
On top of all of that nonsense, Martin Alba disappeared from the defensive midfield at halftime against Dayton. He was replaced in the lineup by Driton Zyteja, who played the remaining 45 minutes. The same happened to Adam Hermsen, who saw his minutes go to Taylor. When you add it all up, you have to actually credit freshman keeper Luis Barraza for doing as good of a job as he's doing out there. When you're trying to reassemble a defense after losing high quality guys like Charlie Lyon, Axel Sjoberg, and Brady Wahl, having this much churn isn't helping things. Hopefully MU can start to get some coherence together in their lineup soon, as the Big East schedule starts in just 15 days.
Match #5: vs Nebraska-Omaha (4-0-0)
When: Friday, September 11, 2015, at 6pm Central
Where: Valley Fields
Audio/Visual: Home matches have FREE video streaming, plus live stats.
Special Promotions: Local law enforcement/firefighters/military personnel/hospital staff get $2 admission. First 200 fans get coupons to redeem for USA themed Marquette shirts during the women's match afterwards.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteSoccer
UNO was picked to finish second in the Summit League this season, picking up two of the seven possible first place votes. So, the odds of them qualifying as "a pretty decent team" this season were better than 50/50. But I don't know if anyone necessarily picked them to pull off a 1-0 home win over a UC-Irvine squad that was ranked #13 in the country at the time. As a result of that win this past Friday night, the Mavericks find themselves ranked #22 in the country in the latest Top Drawer Soccer top 25.
The goal in that match came from junior midfielder Mark Moulton, who was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Week as a result. I mean, yeah, there was the goal and assist against Cal State Northridge, but let's be honest, y'know? With three goals and an assist on the season, Moulton is already up to seven points on the season through four games. Overall, the Mavs have a pretty snazzy offense, recording 10 assists on just nine goals in 2015.
Joseph Ghitis is the reigning Summit League Defensive Player of the Week after his shutout of UC-Irvine. That's kind of fascinating, as Ghitis didn't play in the CSN match two days later. That's the only match that Ghitis has missed this season for UNO, so I'm presuming that it was a rest decision as opposed to injury. Ghitis, a native of Weston, FL, has stopped 81% of shots on frame this season and is carrying a goals-against average of just 0.67 through three games played.