Gremlins soccer falls to Sentinels at home
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HOUGHTON -- Houghton Gremlins soccer coach Mark Lounibos knew what he and his squad were getting into as they faced the Marquette Sentinels at home Wednesday. They had lost to the Sentinels 1-0 earlier in the season on the road.
Having already seen them, Lounibos had a plan to earn a win. However, the game plan didn’t work, as the Gremlins lost again, this time 5-1.
"I take the blame on this one," said Lounibos. "We changed up our formation for this one and it seemed to backfire. My thinking in this second game was to hold them off, keep the score down and get some goals. Obviously, it didn’t work."
The plan backfired quickly as the Sentinels took a 3-1 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game. Marquette scored their first goal with less than two minutes into the game. Landon Hartung found the back of the net at the 38:29 mark to make it a 1-0 game. However, it was a short-lived lead as the Gremlins (5-4) tied it up courtesy of a shot off the foot of senior forward Ian Hembroff less than two minutes later at the 36:40 mark. The 1-1 knot lasted less than a minute as the Sentinels' Ty Sadler scored at the 36:04 mark and put the white and red ahead 2-1. While they went on to score two more times in the first, those two goals were all they needed. Goals three and four came off the foot of senior Sentinel Seth Sandstrom at the 21:39 mark and again with less than three minutes in the half.
Marquette outshot the Gremlins 7-3 in the first 40 minutes. They went on to add one more tally in the second half to secure a 5-1 victory.
Coach Lounibos added that he was happy that his boys scored in this one.
"When we played them in Marquette, we did not have any real attack on goal," he said. "This time, we were able to put some shots on goal, and we scored. In the long run, I am not worried about this. We are a young team and it shows at times as we get down and are our own worst enemy.
"Moving forward towards the postseason, the goal isn’t beating Marquette; they are not even in our division. It is about being the best team we can be for the games that are ahead, and that is what we will work on in practice tomorrow."
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The Gremlins head to Escanaba for a 12 p.m. match Saturday.