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It was a tremendous week for the Marquette men's soccer team, as the Golden Eagles beat two ranked opponents and made program history in the process. In the Horizon League, UW-Green Bay posted a clean sheet to beat a longtime conference rival, while UW-Milwaukee continues to enjoy plenty of offensive success but would like tighten things up at the back.
Get all the highlights in our weekly recap of the Golden Eagles, Phoenix and Panthers.
Marquette (7-5-2, 5-0-0 Big East)
Wednesday: Golden Eagles 1, No. 12 Notre Dame 0. Swedish freshman Sebastian Jansson scored his first collegiate goal in the 16th minute and junior goalkeeper David Check (Mequon Homestead) made seven saves in his second shutout of the season as Marquette upset the Fighting Irish (5-3-4, 1-2-1) in a Big East Conference match at Valley Fields. It was the Golden Eagles' first win over Notre Dame since 1990 and their first over a ranked opponent since 2005. Junior midfielder Anthony Selvaggi set up the goal, winning the ball on the right flank and crossing it to the back post, where Jansson slid in and finished against Irish keeper Will Walsh. Notre Dame hit the post on two shots in the first half and put one off the crossbar in the 82nd, while Check made a diving save in the 77th to deny Ryan Finley's 10-yard drive and preserve his eighth career clean sheet.
Saturday: Golden Eagles 2, No. 23 West Virginia 1. Jansson scored his second game-winner in five days, volleying a cross from fellow freshman Kelmend Islami (South Milwaukee) past keeper Justin Holmes from 8 yards out in the 79th minute as Marquette beat another ranked foe and improved to 5-0-0 in conference play for the first time in program history. It was the first win for the Golden Eagles over the Mountaineers (7-5-1, 3-2-0) in the teams' seven-game series and kept Marquette atop the Big East Blue Division standings – coach Louis Bennett's side was picked to finish sixth in the eight-team league in the preseason coaches' poll. Freshman right back Dennis Holowaty put the Golden Eagles ahead at Valley Fields in the 28th, beating Holmes on a header at the far post off a cross from sophomore midfielder Bryan Ciesiulka on the right flank for his first collegiate goal. Allen Flott pounded a free kick off the crossbar for West Virginia in the 35th following a handball about 23 yards out, and the Mountaineers eventually equalized through Uwem Etuk just 33 seconds into the second half. Islami nearly put Marquette ahead in the 58th as he pulled Holmes well off his line and went around the keeper, but he couldn't convert from a tight angle on the left side. Just more than 20 minutes later, though, he got a pass from senior Calum Mallace on the right side and quickly found Jansson in the middle of the box for the winner. Former Golden Eagles center back Scott Miller, who was forced to end his playing career after the 2010 season due to recurring concussions, was honored before the game and recognized as an honorary captain.
Up next: vs. No. 20 Georgetown, 7:05 p.m. Wednesday; at Seton Hall, noon Saturday.
UW-Green Bay (6-5-1, 2-2-0 Horizon)
Saturday: Phoenix 1, Butler 0. Senior Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East) scored on the rebound after his penalty kick was saved in the 67th minute, and junior Ryan Wehking made five saves for his second clean sheet of the season as Green Bay blanked the Bulldogs (5-6-2, 1-2-1) in a Horizon League match at Santaga Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Luke Goodnetter (Brookfield East) drew the penalty when he was taken down just inside the box, and Butler sophomore keeper Jon Dawson made the save but Walls made no mistake on the rebound and collected his fourth goal. The Phoenix made the slim lead stand up the rest of the way despite being reduced to 10 men when freshman Sam Ramirez (DeForest) was sent off in the 79th minute following his second yellow card of the night. "We talked about our defense all week and before the game tonight on how we haven't had a clean sheet since the first week of the season," Green Bay coach Kris Kelderman said. "We felt good that as long as we were creating chances that we would finish one."
Up next: vs. Wisconsin, 7 p.m. Wednesday (nc); at Cleveland State, 6 p.m. Saturday.
UW-Milwaukee (5-6-2, 2-1-2 Horizon)
Saturday: Panthers 2, Wright State 2. Freshman midfielder Justin Laird (Hartford) scored the equalizer in the 71st minute as the Raiders (6-4-2, 2-1-1) earned a draw with UW-Milwaukee in a Horizon League match at Engelmann Stadium. The Panthers fell behind after 16 minutes but pulled even and went ahead in a 10-minute span in the second half. Freshman Laurie Bell tied the score off a set piece in the 59th, as senior Ross Van Osdol played a free kick to the far post that junior forward Cody Banks (Madison Memorial) touched back to the near post, where Bell finished for his second goal. Exactly 10 minutes later, Banks shot off a pass from senior Keegan Ziada and with the ball seemingly going wide, senior Robert Refai got to it and poked it in for his team-best seventh of the season. Just more than two minutes after that, though, Laird tied it up again with his fifth goal of the year. Wright State keeper Craig Feehan and Panthers freshman Josh Rohde (Waukesha West) made sure it stayed that way – Feehan denied UWM sophomore midfielder Robbie Boyd (Milwaukee Marquette) in the 89th and freshman Nick Langford in the 107th, while Rohde made a diving, one-handed stop on Kenji Goldman in the 84th and stoned Raiders sophomore midfielder Will McAteer (Middleton) on a breakaway in the 104th. McAteer also sent a header off the post in the 82nd. It was the second straight 2-2 tie in league play for the Panthers, who had a 6-1 advantage in shots in overtime. "If you are scoring two goals a game, you should realistically be winning them," UWM coach Chris Whalley said. "It's frustrating because we need to stop conceding so many goals. ... We need to get back to our bread and butter, which is keeping clean sheets and playing better defense."
Up next: at Valparaiso, 7 p.m. Saturday.
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