Marquette (3-0) bested the Cincinnati Bearcats (1-3) 15-9 Thursday afternoon at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. For MU, it was a dominant win where everything was clicking.
Senior attacker Meg Bireley, senior midfielder Hanna Bodner and junior attacker Tess Osburn each had a hat-trick to lead the Golden Eagles in scoring.
The defense took care of the rest, holding Cincinnati to nine goals on 34 shot attempts.
Highlights
Marquette earned a 15-9 road win on Thursday at Cincinnati to move to 3-0. pic.twitter.com/T4w3MJG8Uc
— Marquette Women’s Lacrosse (@MarquetteWLax) February 20, 2025
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Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead 10 seconds into the game from sophomore midfielder Hailey Joy Simpson’s first goal of the year. After that, it was all Marquette. Bireley tied it up a minute later with a free-position conversion. A minute and half later, sophomore midfielder Lauren Grady scored a goal, assisted by Osburn.
Marquette extended its lead to 4-1 later in the period and led 6-3 at the end of the first thanks to a last-second coast-to-coast goal by sophomore defender Mary Velner.
The second period was dominated by defense. The Golden Eagles nudged further ahead, making it 8-4 at the half.
Cincinnati tried to make it interesting in the third period, cutting the deficit to 10-6 and 11-7, but both times, Marquette responded with a goal by Bireley and then Osburn.
The Golden Eagles effectively put the game away in the fourth, during a five-minute stretch. Bodner scored a free-position goal, and Osburn scored a goal of her own while holding the Bearcats scoreless. With 5:04 to play, Marquette had a 14-8 lead.
Shut-down defense
Marquette’s defense put together a 60-minute all-around showcase.
Cincinnati got 34 shots off, just two shots short of what the Golden Eagles gave up in the first two combined games, but only 17 were on goal. Marquette made the Bearcats’ shots contested and difficult.
The Golden Eagles’ pressure stifled Cincinnati’s passing throughout the game, allowing only four assists. Additionally, Marquette forced 16 Bearcat turnovers, the most Marquette has forced in a game this season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Mikayla Yang also had a nice day. She had eight saves on 17 shots on goal, good for a 47 percent save rate.
Free Flowing Offense
The Golden Eagles off-ball movement was on display all game. Marquette did an excellent job moving and cutting off the ball to get open for goal-scoring opportunities.
This culminated in nine assists and many other goal-scoring opportunities because Cincinnati committed 13 fouls trying to defend the Golden Eagles.
Up Next
Marquette (3-0) will travel to Ann Arbor to face the #8-ranked Michigan Wolverines (3-1) on Sunday, February 23rd, at 11 a.m. CST.
Michigan dropped a game to #9-ranked Yale earlier this year. Marquette and Michigan share a common opponent, Central Michigan, whom the Golden Eagles took care of 17-5, and Michigan beat 19-5.
This story was written by Max Mullin. He can be reached at maxwell.mullin@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MullinMax.