Marquette Men’s Soccer Has To Settle For A Draw With Providence

In a see-saw battle on Saturday afternoon, Marquette and Providence went to a 2-2 draw after neither team managed a golden goal in a rain-soaked overtime session. Marquette is now 1-8-2 on the season and 1-2-1 (4 points) in Big East play. The draw keeps them ever so slightly ahead of Providence in the basement of the league at 0-2-2 (2 points).

It looked like Marquette was going to swipe three points away from the Friars. After Danny Griffin put PC up 1-0 in the 18th minute, the Friars held onto that lead for a good long while. They outshot Marquette 8-5 in the first half, and we passed the hour mark with Providence still out in front.

That’s when it was time for Jason Davis to mark his name in the scorebook for the season. The grad transfer from England was in prime position after Connor Alba drew attention with a dribble into the top of the 18 yard box, and all Davis had to do was make solid contact for the equalizer and his first goal of the season.

Things turned quickly in favor of the Golden Eagles as they went up 2-1 in the 72nd minute. Marquette earned one of their five corner kicks in the match, and Luka Prpa sent it long to the far post. Brendan Skinner was on the run, though, and timed his touch perfectly to snap his shot past PC’s Colin Miller to give Marquette the lead.

The lead was short lived, though. In the 79th minute, Steffen Böhm made a huge sliding tackle on the far left side of the 18 yard box and while it may have been slightly from behind on a Providence attacker, it wasn’t particularly dangerous at least from my vantage point on the Marquette Wire streaming broadcast. The referee had a different view, though, and awarded the Friars a penalty kick. Mac Steeves calmly sent it home, and everyone was level at two each.

That’s how things stood at the end of regulation, and after Louis Bennett gave the officials a piece of his mind because of the 12 fouls whistled on Marquette in the second half against just three on Providence, things headed to overtime. MU managed three shots in the first extra session as the rain started to fall at Valley Fields, but none were on frame. Neither side managed a shot at all in the second 10 minute session, and thus the draw was concluded.

Luis Barraza made his return to the starting goalkeeper spot in this match, making three saves, all in the first half. This match could have been even higher scoring than it was, as both squads recorded a save by an active defender being in the right place at the right time to drive a shot off the goal line while the keeper was out of place to stop it.

Here’s the highlight reel, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and the Marquette Wire:

Up Next: The Golden Eagles will play on the road on each of the next two Saturdays. First up is St. John’s on October 14th. The Red Storm are 5-4-2 on the year and currently sit in third place in the Big East at 2-1-1 and seven points after a lightning shortened 2-2 draw with St. John’s on Friday night. They played just over 80 minutes, but still managed to fit in four goals, eight yellow cards, one straight red card, and 29 shots. St. John’s actually briefly took a 2-1 lead after losing Mauricio Rivas to the red card. By rule, Rivas will be suspended one game for the red card, but I’m not sure if SJU’s Tuesday match at Princeton will count as the card came in a Big East match.