A brilliant golden goal by senior Mikhail Doholis gave the Oregon State men’s soccer team a 1-0 victory over Marquette on Friday in its season opener  and thrilling a Lorenz Field crowd of 714.

A senior midfielder/forward from Vancouver, Wash., Doholis concluded a left-to-right-to left run along the top of the 18-yard box by curling in a 15-yard, left-footed missile to the top left corner that bounced in off the left upright at 96:17. He changed directions several times while dribbling to evade Marquette defenders, unleashed his shot, and then was mobbed by his teammates after tearing off his No. 10 jersey in celebration.

“I like to cut in on my right, I found a little gap between a couple guys and thought I could split the seam,” Doholis said in describing what certainly will make the Pacific-12 Conference’s “12 Best” weekly highlight show.

“Luckily the ball bounced right. I saw the goalie cheating a little bit and curled it in. It was a good shot.”

The goal ended a back-and-forth battle that OSU coach Steve Simmons said was similar to the game the teams play in Milwaukee last season, a 1-0 Marquette win. There were seven yellow cards, one red card and each team had 16 fouls.

“The game had ebbs and flows,” Simmons said. ‘I thought the first 20 minutes we played well, then they figured some things out and they put us on our back foot a little bit.

“The thing that changed the second half was the red card” on Marquette’s Jack Alberts at 83:42 that left the Golden Eagles a man short for the balance of the game. “That changed the dynamic, as it always does.

“It took a little magic from Mikhail and in a game like this, where it is very even, it takes a little bit of magic” to earn a result. “I credit our keeping and defense for keeping a clean sheet, and when you do that you give yourself a chance to win.”

OSU keeper Nolan Wirth had two saves. Defender Jalen Markey had the biggest stop, though, as he cleared a shot that had evaded Wirth off the line in the 94^th minutes to preserve the scoreless tie.

“There are a lot of plays we made defensively that go unnoticed; that was the biggest one,” Simmons said.

The Beavers outshot Marquette 12-5 in a scoreless first half, led by sophomore Timmy Mueller’s four attempts.  Marquette had the territorial edge in the second half, even though it was outshot 8-4. OSU outshot Marquette 21-11 overall.

OSU’s Jamie Velsaco had the best scoring chance in regulation but his shot from just outside the 18-yard box in the 57^th minute was denied on a diving stop by Marquette keeper Luis Barraza, who had eight saves.

The Beavers conclude the annual Hensor/Zaher Classic at noon on Sunday against No. 9 Michigan State. The game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.

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