Men’s soccer: Panthers lose to Marquette, end rough season

The Pitt men’s soccer team ended a dismal season, dropping its final contest of the year to… The Pitt men’s soccer team ended a dismal season, dropping its final contest of the year to Marquette 5-0 on Saturday night. The drubbing was the exclamation mark on a season in which the Panthers went 2-13-2 and 1-9-1 in Big East play, good for last place in the conference.

Saturday, the Golden Eagles (4-9-3, 3-4-3 Big East) got off to a quick start, with striker Chris Madsen scoring two goals in the first half. They went to the locker room at halftime with a 3-0 lead.

Madsen’s first goal came just three minutes into the contest. He completed the hat trick in the second half and also had one assist. Madsen tied the Valley Fields record for points in a single game.

“This was obviously a disappointing game. We gave up a very early goal and the second goal, we just never recovered,” Pitt head coach Joe Luxbacher said. “It was not a good effort.”

With the win, Marquette clinched the final spot in the conference championships. Notre Dame, Connecticut, West Virginia, Georgetown and Providence also qualified.

Marquette out-shot Pitt 12-5. Luxbacher said the Panthers possessed the ball well throughout the game, but Marquette converted its opportunities. The Panthers, who have struggled to score goals all year, were without senior forwards Matt Baker and Chris Wilcox.

The team, which usually travels to road games the day before the contest, flew to Milwaukee the same day as the game. Tip-off was 8:05 p.m. Luxbacher said the team makes no excuses for the poor effort.

“Maybe that was a mistake, but our frame of mind was good going into the game,” he said.

The lopsided loss is true to the Panther’s 2009 form. The team had lost or tied 14 straight games before topping Seton Hall 3-2 three days prior to the game at Marquette. Eight of those games were decided by one goal, and the Panthers lost two of them in overtime.

“The fact is, most of the games we were right there but didn’t get the result,” Luxbacher said. “We’re not that far away as our record would appear.”

Still, the Panthers now embark on an off-season with many question marks. Next week, the coaching staff will hold individual player meetings with every member of the team. In the meetings, coaches will discuss each player’s role, and what he has to do to remain on the team next season. Luxbachar said the team has five or six commitments for next year.

“It will be tough for these guys to keep their spot,” Luxbacher said. “We don’t want to be a bottom feeder. I think we have a good core of players, but we need some guys to be difference makers.”

Luxbacher said the team’s goal is to become a top-tier Big East soccer program. The team has no place to go but up. Luxbacher said he takes confidence from games against Connecticut and West Virginia, both ranked teams. The Panthers lost a tight game to Connecticut 2-0 and tied West Virginia 0-0 in two overtime periods.

The loss to Marquette was the Panther’s second 5-0 defeat of the year. They lost to Louisville by the same count in late September on the road, but that doesn’t make this result any easier to take.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” Luxbacher said.