TicketsMarquette Tops UC on Senior Day
Hughes nets seventh goal for Bearcats
Contact: Jeremy Martin
11/7/2004
Junior Jeff Hughes scored his seventh goal of the season for the Bearcats |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? The University of Cincinnati men's soccer team dropped its regular season finale today against Marquette, 2-1, in front of 231 spectators at Gettler Stadium. Marquette earned just its second conference win to move to 6-11-1 overall. The Bearcats fall to 7-9-2 (5-3-1 C-USA), but will now ready themselves for the Conference USA Tournament.
The Golden Eagles struck first, scoring off of a throw in near the UC box. Danny Mullin blasted a shot into the lower left corner of the net, past a sprawling Mike Vessells (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) to stake Marquette to a 1-0 lead.
UC tied the match in the second half when Jeff Hughes (Independence, Ky./Western Michigan) tapped in a loose ball after a scramble in front of Mearquette keeper Andy Kroll. Hughes' seventh goal came at the 68:16 mark and, with UC dominating play in the stanza, it looked like the Bearcats had seized momentum.
Marquette would steal the momentum right back, scoring in the 82nd minute. Chris Lee headed in a crossing pass from Ryan Kohlmeyer to give the Golden Eagles the lead. Vessells came out of net to attempt to snag the crossing pass out of the air, but Lee was able to get a head on it and it trickled over the line to provide the decisive score.
UC outshot Marquette, 11-9, and took nine corner kicks to the Golden Eagles' six. The two squads played physically throughout the match, with 28 fouls being whistled between the teams. Several warnings were given throughout the day, but only two yellow cards were handed out.
"It was a physical game," commented UC coach Hylton Dayes. "But now we're in the conference tournament and it's one (loss) and you're out. So we have to regroup and see how far we can get in the tournament."
The Bearcats open the tournament as the third seed on Thursday, Nov. 11 against Charlotte in Louisville, Ky.