DEKALB, Ill. – A pair of second half goals help lift Marquette to a 4-2 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on Thursday night (Aug. 26) at the NIU Soccer Complex. The Golden Eagles scored twice in the opening six minutes of the contest, only to see the Huskies pull back even before the half-hour mark on a pair of goals from
Luka Vasic (Toronto, Ontario/Maple), but the hosts were unable to make a similar comeback in the second half.
"Bitterly disappointed with the result," said NIU head coach
Ryan Swan. "We gave up two goals really early and dug a hole for ourselves. I thought we played well on the possession side, got into some good positions and when we clawed things back, I thought we had put ourselves in a good position to get a positive result. But the chances we gave up, the four goals and another one, we were just far too exposed at the back, got caught in bad spots and at this level, against good teams, you are going to get punished and that's what happened tonight."
The visitors were in front in the fourth minute as turnover in midfield led to a goal from Tomiwa Adewumi. Mateo Stoka forced the turnover and drove into the attacking third before playing the ball wide to Mads Konrad Horgoien. His low cross from Adewumi all alone seven yards from goal to give Marquette the early advantage.
Two minutes later Adewumi had a second as a long ball from midfield was played toward Adewumi who shrugged off a Huskie defender near the top of the box. NIU goalkeeper
Cayden Crawford (Plain City, Ohio/Ohio Connections Academy) got a piece of Adewumi's initial shot, but the Marquette forward was able to bundle the ball over the line at the second attempt.
NIU cut the Marquette lead in half in the 14th minute as Vasic rose highest to head home a corner from
Roman Khela (Huddersfield, England) from eight yards, past an outstretched Cameron Simpson in goal for Marquette into the side-netting back across goal.
The hosts were level on 25 minutes as Khela and Vasic combined again from a corner. This time the delivery from Khela was just inside the six-yard box and Simpson missed in his attempt to try to come punch, leaving Vasic in behind to head home the tying goal.
Marquette went back in front in the 65th minute when a header from in midfield by Adewumi found the well-timed run of Horgoien in behind the NIU backline for a 1-v-1 with Crawford. Horgoien's second touch slide under Crawford and into the back of the net as the visitors regained the advantage.
NIU had two excellent chances to pull level as
Mateo Gomez-Soto (Bentonville, Ark./Bentonville West) flashed a header just high in the 80th minute and, two minutes later,
Jakub Drazek (Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove) cut in from the left and forced a terrific save from Simpson.
Marquette capitalized in the 84th minute as Stoka played a low ball from the left wing toward Joey Buchanan who stabbed home a fourth goal for the visitors from about 10 yards.
The Huskies will be back in action at home on Sunday night, Aug. 30, when they host UIC. Kickoff against the Flames is scheduled for 7 p.m., admission to NIU soccer matches is free of charge.
