The postseason is on the line on Senior Day for the Golden Eagles.
Season’s on the line, no other way around it.
With two games left to go in Big East play, Marquette men’s lacrosse is 0-3 and in last place as the only winless team. On Saturday, Marquette plays 1-2 Villanova, one of the two teams that is currently tied for the fourth and final Big East tournament berth. A loss to Nova gives MU their fourth loss of league play, as well as drops them two games behind the Wildcats with one game left to go. A loss on Saturday eliminates Marquette from the conference tournament, full stop.
A win does not put them in, mind you, but a loss does render the regular season finale against #7 Denver meaningless in terms of the standings, at least from MU’s perspective.
It’s been a looooooong season since Marquette started out the year earning top 20 votes in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. It feels like it shouldn’t have come down to this, but it has, and that’s just how it goes sometimes, I guess.
Oh, hey, by the way: It is Senior Day in the Valley. The Golden Eagles will honor 19 (!) seniors and grad students before the game, although three of them are Devon Cowan, Jake Stegman, and Luke Williams, who were honored on Senior Day last year before returning for their bonus season of eligibility.
Big East Game #4: vs RV Villanova Wildcats (7-5, 1-2 Big East)
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2024
Time: Noon Central
Location: Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports, with Scott Sudikoff and Eric Simon calling the action.
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 3-9 all time against Villanova. The Golden Eagles got off to a good start, winning three in a row after the Wildcats won the first two meetings, including in the 2014 Big East tournament. However, it’s been all VU since then with Nova at least earning national poll votes in six of their seven straight wins. Last year’s game went 16-15 to #13 Villanova in overtime, the second of three straight overtime losses to end the season.
So, uh, I don’t know why Villanova’s earning top 20 votes in the Inside Lacrosse media poll this week. VU started off the season with back-to-back losses to ranked teams, beat then-#20 Colgate, and then lost to #13 Penn two weeks later to drop to 3-3 overall. Their last game of the month of March was a 9-6 home loss to then-#9 Denver — 6-4 on the year at the time after that — and then they followed that up by opening April with a 15-12 home loss to Providence. I would say that this feels like there’s one voter that’s believed in the Wildcats all season long after voting for them in the preseason poll…… but losing to Providence dropped them off the voting roll completely. Apparently beating St. John’s 14-9 in Queens last weekend restored the faith?
The argument for the Wildcats in the top 20 is their defense. Lacrosse Reference has them at #19 in defensive efficiency. Since Marquette has been hilariously struggling for weeks on the offensive end — see also: three shots and five turnovers on six power plays last weekend against Providence — that’s probably bad news for MU’s chances here. Relative to the rest of the league, goalie Anthony Wilson isn’t going to win a lot of awards this season, but at a glance, his stats aren’t bad. 10.65 goals allowed per 60 minutes will do a lot of heavy lifting for your lacrosse team, and stopping just barely short of 50% of shots on frame is just fine, too.
On the other end of the field, Villanova might be struggling with efficiency, but not so much production, at least from two guys. LaxRef has them at 57th out of 72 Division 1 teams in efficiency, but Colin Michener is one of the best goal scorers in the Big East. He trails only Providence’s Richie Joseph in goals and goals per game with 32 in 12 games this season. With 29 goals in 12 contests, Matt Licata is the third best goal scorer in the Big East, so VU has threats. Marquette was able to swallow up Joseph in the Valley last weekend, but that left other options running free. No one else on the Nova roster is averaging more than a goal per game this season, so MU’s potential solution here is interesting.