Marquette Men’s Soccer Keeps Winning Streak Going

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Maybe, just maybe, that’s what happened to move Marquette on Monday afternoon in a Labor Day matinee against Harvard. With quality chances at a little bit of a premium on a sunny and hot day at Valley Fields, this bounce around happened in the 31st minute after Beto Soto made a sliding play to put the ball back out in front of the Harvard net.

Maybe Antonio Costabile got a knock on it as it went by, but ultimately, the last touch before it hit the net was off a Crimson defender. As such, it goes into the books as an own goal, and a 1-0 Marquette lead to boot.

Mix in two saves from keeper Ludwig Malberg, one in each half, and that’s a shutout win for the Golden Eagles. Not just a shutout win, but the third straight shutout win for Marquette as well. That moves them to 4-0-0 on the year through two weeks of the season.

While the lone goal in the match was an own goal, it’s not like Marquette wasn’t deserving of the win. MU won the shots battle in this one, 11-5, and the Golden Eagles put seven of those 11 on frame. Officially, that doesn’t count the goal, as an own goal isn’t a shot by the scoring team. Call it eight of 12, and that’s quite the heavy total of game going in Marquette’s favor, particularly on a day with the heat index north of 100 degrees.

Oh, and fun fact? That’s head coach Louis Bennett’s 250th career victory, counting his run at Milwaukee before he came across town to Valley Fields.

Up Next: The run of home matches continues next weekend with another Friday/Monday two-fer. First up is Texas-Rio Grande Valley on Friday night for a 7pm start, and then there’s Wisconsin coming to town for another 7pm start on Monday. UTRGV is 1-2-0 on the year with two losses to ranked teams already, while the Badgers are 3-0-0 with a visit to UIC pending on Monday night before they host Mercer next weekend before they see MU.