Marquette's Soren Higgins, top, collides with Redmen goalkeeper Kyle Michelson, bottom, as Kingsford's Ben Backlund jumps into the play on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018, at Commemorative Field in Kingsford. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Adam Niemi)

By ADAM NIEMI

Iron Mountain Daily News

KINGSFORD — Marquette scored early and often in an 8-0 win over Kingsford on Thursday.

Trevor Salmon’s penalty kick barely a minute into the game was an omen for what would happen the rest of the game. Marquette added three more goals in the opening half, including another by Salmon. The two others were scored on penalty kicks.

Salmon finished with three goals and an assist, while teammate Pablo Sanchez had two and Evan Phillips a goal and two assists.

The Redmen took advantage of open space in the middle of the field throughout the night to grab and hold momentum.

Kingsford managed just a handful of shots on goal in each half with sparse ball control in the final third.

“Over the past couple weeks we’ve had a couple canceled games so we had some extra practices,” Marquette head coach Dan Menze said. “We’ve been working a new drill that really helped the spacing of our team and the movement off the ball. I thought that really came to fruition tonight.

“It was a couple times where we went away from it and had some lulls, but for the most part they were on top of it. They were talking well and moving together as a unit.”

For Kingsford, it was a clinic on ball control and moving the ball upfield. The Flivvers were plagued throughout the night with off-balance passes that fluttered off target. Much of this came as Marquette’s well practiced field positioning meant little time for Kingsford players to reign in a pass and send it to a teammate.

“Our problem we had was positioning,” Kingsford head coach Jeff Gordon said. “That’s where they had their chances at scoring. Then they had those two penalty shots and they scored on each one. They did a very good job at it. They’re a very aggressive team. You can’t leave any spot on the field open. We didn’t take advantage of that and they did.”

Kingsford’s Ben Backlund had a handful of scoring chances. One of his first shots sailed over the goal when it was a 1-0 game and then Marquette added another goal on a penalty kick by Soren Higgins.

Like Higgins, Marquette’s Nick Lindberg added a single goal, while Mack Vezina, Connor Johnson and Alex Vermaat each had an assist.

Higgins, Hunter Sides, Nico Vermaat and Carter Beres were cited for their strong defense in front of goalkeepers Kyle Michelson, who worked in the first half, and Liam Jeevar, who took over after intermission.

Menze said the middle of the field was open throughout the game and the Redmen adjusted to take advantage.

“They were sitting their defense back quite a bit and pushing three guys up,” Menze said. “We ended up dropping a defensive mid-back to help mark their forwards, which opened up more space in the middle that the forwards and the attacking mids we had could check to. When they received with space, the runs off the ball were amazing tonight. That’s really what helped us.”

Gordon said his team improved from the first half.

“In the second half we actually did a lot better. I changed some kids around different positions,” Gordon said. “They scored a couple in the second half. It’s just putting people in the right spots. I’ve got young guys and I’m learning more about them.”