The Golden Eagles have to beat a not-good Musketeers squad to get to the Big East tournament.
Marquette women’s lacrosse heads into the weekend in fifth place in the Big East with a record of 1-3. That has them a full game in the standings behind 2-2 Villanova — who they play in the season finale next week — and a half game ahead of 1-4 Butler.
With Denver expected to be in the national conversation all season long and Butler and Xavier expected to be bringing up the rear in the Big East standings, Marquette’s pathway to one of the four Big East tournament berth always seemed to be
- Find at least one win against Connecticut, Georgetown, and Villanova
- Beat both Butler and Xavier
The Golden Eagles haven’t done #1 yet, but there’s nothing that can be done about that this weekend. They can, however, finish up #2 after getting a 20-12 win over Butler earlier this month.
We can’t officially say it’s a must-win game, as in “they’re eliminated if they lose.” With Villanova playing Denver this weekend, it certainly feels like the Wildcats will take a loss and turn next week’s game into a “winner gets in” game no matter what Marquette does…… but what if the Wildcats pull off the win against the Pioneers? That would mean a Marquette loss to Xavier does eliminate the Golden Eagles from the conference tournament, so maybe, yeah, it is a must-win game for Marquette.
One thing to watch: Head coach Meredith Black already went with freshman goalie Mikayla Yang once this season, giving her the net in the Big East opener against UConn. Last week, Yang came in to relieve Brynna Nixon in the second half as the game against Georgetown started to slip out of MU’s reach. It’s hard to say for certain that Yang had a better time than Nixon did, but it’s clear that Nixon’s having a worse season this year than she did a year ago when Marquette broke all kinds of team success barriers. Is this contest against a struggling Xavier game a good time to build up Nixon’s confidence heading into the regular season finale with the postseason on the line, or is it time to get Yang ready to carry the Golden Eagles forward?
Stat Watch: Meg Bireley needs two goals to tie and three goals to break Marquette’s single season goals record. Three would make her the first Golden Eagle to tally 60 goals in a season.
Big East Game #5: at Xavier Musketeers (4-10, 0-4 Big East)
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2024
Time: 11am Central
Location: Corcoran Field, Cincinnati, Ohio
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax
Marquette is 1-0 all time against Xavier, as the Musketeers made their Division 1 debut in 2023. That first ever contest in Milwaukee a year ago was a one goal affair late in the first quarter until Shea Garcia dictated terms on the way to making it an 8 goal game after 15 minutes, Marquette winning 22-7, and Garcia ending the day as MU’s all time career point scorer as well as breaking the single game goals record.
Year 1 ended with a record of 4-10 overall for Xavier, and so, after beating Eastern Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, they’ve matched that win total and have two cracks to improve on that. It’s also two cracks at getting their first ever Big East victory, as they finished 0-6 a year ago in league contests. Their finale is a road trip to see Denver, so if I were XU head coach Meg Decker, I’d be gassing up my team to find a way to beat Marquette for that victory because toppling #12 Denver’s a pretty steep task.
Marquette is not just going to steamroll over Xavier, at least not on the defensive side of the field. Look, yes, they’ve got problems, that’s why they’re 4-10. But Lola Mancuso has scored 41 goals this season, and before she threw in two against Eastern Michigan — including the overtime forcing strike with 13 seconds left — she was fourth in the Big East in goals per game. Her average has now slipped just barely under three goals per game, and she’s still one of the 10 best point per game scorers in the Big East as well. Mancuso is 11-for-17 on free position attempts, which means she’s accounting for more than 25% of her goals by way of drawing a foul and slinging it in, so avoiding that happening would be a very good plan for Marquette.
Kirra Crowley has 20 goals in 13 games this season for Xavier, while Katherine Prentice has 15 in 13 contests. Crowley had a three point day against EMU and Prentice tacked on two points, so they’re both coming off good outings. Sometimes positive vibes are all you need, and Xavier’s at least going in that direction after rallying to beat the Eagles on the road.
Xavier has three goalies who have logged at least 150 minutes this season, so it might be a little hard to say for 100% certainty who’s going to get the start on Saturday. However, Marina Piszczor went the distance against Eastern Michigan, so she feels like the best bet. The 5’3” sophomore from Illinois started nearly every game a year ago, so she’s definitely the most experienced Xavier goalie, and she’s the one with the most minutes logged this season at just over 450. Piszczor also has the benefit of having the best defensive stats. No one’s going to put up a billboard to crow about her 13.96 goals-against average or her .386 save percentage, but they are both the best numbers amongst the three netminders who have played this year.