Marquette men’s lacrosse returned to Valley Fields Saturday afternoon looking to snap its two-game losing skid and get back into the win column against Villanova.
However, the Wildcats played spoils to the Golden Eagles Senior Day by defeating Marquette 10-8.
“I am really proud of our seniors,” Marquette head coach Andrew Stimmel said. “This team has fought all year, regardless of circumstances. We’ve had a ton of injuries, but that hasn’t stopped these guys from fighting and competing.”
First-year attacker Bobby O’Grady began the scoring on the afternoon with his 42nd goal of the season to give Marquette an early 1-0 lead. Then the Wildcats picked up their pace with four straight goals.
The Golden Eagles would break its over 10 minute scoreless drought with back to back goals from sophomore midfielder Pierce Washburn and redshirt sophomore attacker Jake Stegman to head into the second quarter trailing just 4-3.
Continuing its momentum from the opening frame, Marquette started the second quarter with goals from O’Grady and redshirt first-year attacker Luke Blanc to retake the lead at 5-4. It was Blanc’s 12th goal of the season.
Graduate student attacker Luke Keating netted a pair of back-to-back unassisted goals to give Villanova a 6-5 lead heading into halftime.
The Wildcats came out of halftime strong, finding the back of the net three straight times from Tucker Goodelle and Keating to open the third quarter. Late in the frame, Stegman brought the Wildcats’ lead to three with his second goal of the game. First-year attacker Will Foster had the assist on Stegman’s 10th goal of the season.
Both sides continues trading blows in the fourth quarter. Despite outscoring Villanova 2-1 in the frame, Marquette’s comeback was not enough as Keating’s fifth goal of the match sealed a 10-8 victory for the Wildcats.
“At the end of the day we are playing for Marquette and for this team,” graduate student midfielder Jacob Hallam said. “We came out hot, had a lot of momentum to start with and I never really felt that momentum go away.”
Both teams split the face-off battle on the afternoon, 11-for-22.
With the loss, Marquette has lost three of its last four games. Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Golden Eagles sit at No. 4 in the BIG EAST behind Georgetown, Villanova and Denver.
“Losing sucks, but hopefully in a couple weeks we won’t remember this game, hopefully we will be celebrating something else,” Hallam said.
Redshirt junior defender Zach Granger was back in action for the time time since March 1. The Media, Pennsylvania native, finished with three caused turnovers and two ground balls on the afternoon.
Three different Golden Eagles — Blanc, O’Grady and Stegman — finished with two goals a piece. Meanwhile, Washburn and first-year midfielder Nolan Garcia added a goal a piece on the afternoon.
Marquette (4-9, 2-2 BIG EAST) will now travel to Colorado to finish its regular season Friday against Denver April 29th at 8 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Ava Mares. She can be reached ava.mares@marquette.edu or on Twitter @avamaresMU