Quite the recognition for Jake Richard and his first year staff. PLUS! 5 Golden Eagles earned all-conference honors!
The Big East announced the postseason awards for the 2025 men’s lacrosse season on Wednesday morning, and it’s a pretty big deal for YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles. by way of a vote of the league’s coaches, first year head coach Jake Richard and his assistants Mark Bieda, Will Roberts, and Mason Woodward have been tabbed as the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Here’s what the Big East wrote about the award:
Richard and his staff won Coaching Staff of the Year honors in his first year as head coach of the Golden Eagles. Marquette capped the year with a home win over Denver to secure the fourth seed in the BIG EAST Championship Semifinal. After a 4-10 (0-5) campaign in 2024, the Golden Eagles have improved to 7-6 (2-3) in 2025.
And here’s what the Marquette press release added to the discussion:
Richard and assistant coaches Mark Bieda (offensive coordinator), Will Roberts (defensive coordinator) and Mason Woodward are recognized after helping MU to its first winning regular season since 2016. MU recorded its first four-game winning streak since 2017 earlier this season and its 6-3 record to start the year is its best nine-game start to a season since that year.
The Golden Eagles played a difficult non-conference schedule and all three of their losses prior to the start of league play came on the road to top-15 teams. In conference play, both of MU’s league losses came by just a single goal – at Villanova and against then-No. 14 Georgetown in double overtime on April 5.
As a team, the Golden Eagles are first nationally on man-up opportunities with a .594 success rate (19-of-32) and went 3-for-4 against Denver. [Midfielder Matt] Caputo is sixth in the country with seven man-up goals and has scored 20 times this season.
Marquette’s 250 points through 13 regular season games is the second-highest total in program history, while its 98 assists are 10 more than the previous program record of 88 recorded in 2023.
The coaches were not the only Marquette people honored by the Big East. Senior attackman Bobby O’Grady was one of nine unanimous selections on the 13 man All-Big East First Team as the top honoree amongst the MU players. O’Grady was joined in league honors by attacker Nolan Rappis, midfielders Will Foster and Matt Caputo, and short stick defensive midfielder Peter Detwiler, all of whom were voted to the All-Big East Second Team. O’Grady is now four-for-four in postseason awards from the Big East, and it is the first league honor for each of MU’s five Second Teamers.
The Big East doesn’t write up anything outside of the individual honors for their press release, so we turn to what MU’s release says.
O’Grady:
O’Grady earns his fourth career postseason accolade from the BIG EAST and is a first team member for the second time and the first since he was BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2022. He is MU’s all-time leading scorer and is fifth in NCAA Division I among active players with 145 career goals. O’Grady has 29 goals and 16 assists for 45 total points this season.
Rappis:
Rappis leads MU with a career-high 46 points on a team-best 31 goals and 15 assists. Rappis set a program single-game record with 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the win over Detroit Mercy on Feb. 8. He’s reached at least five goals in a game three times this season, including on Saturday against Denver.
Foster:
Foster is among MU’s all-time leaders in goals, assists and total points. His 52 career assists are fourth in program history, while he is seventh in points (105) and 10th in goals (53). He’s just the third player in program history to reach 100 career points with at least 50 goals and 50 assists (Ryan McNamara and Conor Gately).
Caputo:
Caputo, a junior transfer from Ohio State who arrived on campus in the fall, has been a key part of MU’s man-up unit and added a valuable scoring punch to the first midfield. Caputo is one of four Golden Eagles with at least 20 goals in 2025 and added 10 assists for 30 total points.
Detwiler:
Detwiler is a team captain who leads MU defensive players with 33 ground balls this season. He was named to the USILA Team of the Week on April 2 after helping MU to a win over St. John’s in its league opener with a goal, five ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Marquette’s season continues with the Big East tournament semifinals. As the #4 seed, they’ll face top seeded Georgetown on Thursday, with first draw in Denver set for 5pm Central time. CBS Sports Network will carry that game as well as Villanova/Providence as the second semifinal afterwards.
Follow Anonymous Eagle on social media
Facebook: AnonymousEagle
Instagram: AnonymousEagleSBN
Bluesky: AnonymousEagle