The Golden Eagles couldn’t get out of the gate on Saturday in the Valley, and so they drop to 0-4 in the Big East and end their postseason chances.
There were two different games of men’s lacrosse played at Valley Fields on Saturday.
There was the the first 20 minutes where Villanova scored six unanswered goals to start the game while Marquette committed seven turnovers.
Then there was the final 40 minutes where Marquette played even with Villanova, going to a 6-6 tie even though the Golden Eagles committed another 13 turnovers.
Combined, that’s a 12-6 Villanova victory. If you squint, you can pretend Marquette had a chance to win this game after giving up six straight goals to open the game and falling behind 7-1 in the first 22 minutes. With 10:50 remaining in the fourth quarter, MU’s Nolan Garcia scored his second goal of the game — he opened Marquette’s scoring, too — to pull the Golden Eagles within three at 9-6. At that point, Marquette was on either a 6-3 or a 5-2 run, depending on how you want to look at it, and just short of 11 minutes is a lot of time in lacrosse.
However, the fact that it took Marquette just over 49 minutes to score six goals reasserted itself into the universe for the rest of the game. Garcia’s goal would be MU’s last of the game….. and in fact, Marquette would officially only register one more shot for the entire rest of the game. Seven turnovers against one shot in the final 10:50.
Can’t imagine why they lost.
Oh, right, I forgot: This was a must win game for Marquette. With the loss, they’re now 0-4 in Big East play and eliminated from the four team conference tournament. They’re also 1-9 in their last 10 games after opening up the 2024 campaign with three straight wins.
Down 6-0 out of the gate, blanked 5-0 in the first quarter, in a gotta-have-it game. Yep.
Up Next: As per tradition, Marquette will end the season against Denver. The #7 ranked Pioneers are 10-2 overall and 4-0 in Big East action after beating Providence 7-4 on Saturday. First draw in the Rocky Mountains is 6pm Central time on Friday.