It had all the makings of what could’ve been a perfect day.
A cloud-free, sun-splashed 65 F Saturday afternoon. A home game for the first time in over a month. A match played outside the Valley Fields dome for the first time this season. A fully-packed grandstand filled with fans clad in blue & gold.
And, most importantly, a chance for Marquette men’s lacrosse to win a game in conference play and simultaneously boost its chances of making the Big East Tournament after missing out last season.
But it would end as anything but perfect. A trio of hat tricks from Friars Michael Charba, Ryan Bell and Jack Horrigan made sure of it.
Marquette (4-8, 0-3 Big East) had a chance at completing the comeback over Providence (6-6, 2-1 Big East), but missed opportunities and sloppy mistakes meant the Golden Eagles fell, 13-10.
“We were there right at the end, but were just a couple plays away but we came up short,” Marquette head coach Andrew Stimmel said. “We’re just proud of our guys.”
Despite winning 18-of-26 draws at the face-off dot, the Golden Eagles committed 17 turnovers to the Friars’ 11. Marquette was also 0-for-5 on extra man opportunities.
Second quarter struggles
The Golden Eagles only trailed 5-3 after the first 15 minutes of play, but they got off to a rocky start in the second frame of play.
Goals from first-year attacker Rhett Chambers and Bell in the first five and a half minutes of the period would double the Providence lead from two to four pretty quickly. Marquette wasn’t able to find any answers.
“In the second quarter they went on a run there,” Stimmel said.
A third goal came from Charba with 9:17 left in the second period. The score would extend the Friars’ lead up to five — the largest they would see all day.
The Golden Eagles did respond with a 3-1 run of their own thanks to goals by first year attacker Carsen Brandt, sophomore defenseman Mike Piraino and graduate attack/midfielder Jake Stegman.
“I thought we did a great job swinging and trying to get ourselves back in the game,” Stimmel said.
But they weren’t able to get over the hump and never get closer than within two in the second half.
Junior attacker Bobby O’Grady, junior midfielder Will Foster, and Stegman all had a pair of goals on the afternoon for Marquette.
Graduate goalkeeper Caleb Creasor had 12 saves on the afternoon — tying the 12-6 win at Air Force for the second most he’s had in a game this season.
Up next
Marquette is back at Valley Fields next Saturday as it gets set take on Villanova (7-5, 1-2 Big East) at 12 p.m. CST. The Golden Eagles are searching for their first win against the Wildcats since 2016.
“Villanova is always a great team, I know they’ll be ready to go,” Stimmel said. “It’s gonna be another great game, just like every Big East game is for us. I know our guys will be excited about playing in front of their friends and family here at the Valley.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.