The first year of the Jake Richard era has come to an end.
After reaching the postseason for the first time in three years, No. 4 Marquette men’s lacrosse (7-7) fell 19-8 to top-seeded Georgetown (10-4) Thursday night in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament in Denver.
The Golden Eagles got out to a hot start after senior attacker Conor McCabe and sophomore midfielder Beau Westphal netted two of the game’s’ first three goals to put Marquette on top 2-1 with 8:15 to play in the first quarter.
From there, the Hoyas responded with a 5-0 run with all five goals coming from different players. The match then played out much differently from there than the one at Valley Fields on April 5. That was because instead of fighting back time-after-time to continue to stay in the match until the end, MU struggled mightily to generate good looks for itself on offense, en route to landing just five shots on goal in the first half.
Junior midfielder Lucas Dudemaine highlighted the scoring for Georgetown, netting a game-high four goals on seven shots. Four other players (Fulton Bayman, Joe Cesare, Jordan Wray and Kevin Miller) scored multiple goals for Georgetown. Bayman put on a show in “The Mile High City,” posting a game-high eight points thanks to a hat trick and five assists.
With a chance to fight back in the third period, the Golden Eagles couldn’t find anything on offense, getting outscored 7-2 in the third frame. The Hoyas outscored MU in the final frame 6-3, with junior goalkeeper Lucas Lawas getting subbed out in the quarter. Lawas — who was the reigning Big East defensive player of the week — struggled on Thursday, going 5-for-17 on save attempts for a season-worst .227 save percentage.
Senior attackman Bobby O’Grady was one of two Golden Eagles to score multiple goals in the final game of the season. O’Grady will exit Marquette as one of the most accomplished players to ever step on the field, finishing with a program record in career points (180) and goals (145).
Georgetown has now won 13 straight Big East Tournament games and will play for its seventh consecutive Big East Tournament Championship on Saturday. Marquette finishes the season .500 and will look to build off its first postseason appearance since 2022.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.