MARQUETTE – The Marquette boys soccer team definitely showed what it is capable of offensively Monday night.

The Redmen (10-0-2) fired six second half goals into the net to blow out Sault Ste. Marie 8-1. Eli Pickard scored three goals, while Caleb Byma had two for Marquette.

“We pulled together in the second half that’s for sure,” Marquette head coach Dan Menze said.

“I kind of harped on them a little bit because we weren’t linking up and we weren’t finding feet and opening up space. They took it and ran with it. In the second half, they worked the ball around and had numbers in the middle. I think we ended up scoring on four or five crosses. It was really nice to see them pull together in the second half.”

Despite what the final score says, the game was actually competitive at one point. The game was tied 1-1 late in the first half before Redman Ben Garrow took advantage of a turnover in the box and scored on a shot to the far post.

Sault Ste. Marie appeared to have tied it again as Jacob Frazier headed a shot just out of the reach of Marquette goalie Ben Noble.

However, Frazier was ruled offside and the Redmen held a slim one-goal lead at the break.

In the second half, Rory O’Connor extended Marquette’s lead to 3-1 when he headed a cross into the net with 36:18 remaining.

Pickard then scored two goals just two minutes apart, both on headers just under the crossbar.

The Redmen weren’t finished though. Matthew Salo put in a header of his own with 12:06 left and Pickard tapped in his third goal on a rebound.

Byma then finished the scoring by firing a rocket of a shot with 37 seconds left.

“I’m pretty happy right now,” Menze said.

“The team finds a way to win and they work hard every game. We’ve been starting a little slow, but our second halves have been strong all year, so we just need to get things going a little earlier.

Marquette travels to Escanaba Wednesday to take on the Bayside club team.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.