The Golden Eagles built, lost, and regained a lead, but couldn’t close the door in the final three minutes.
Marquette men’s lacrosse spending 12 minutes of the first quarter assembling a 3-0 lead on Villanova, but going into the second quarter up just 3-2 was probably an omen.
That 3-0 lead was officially gone when Matt Licata scored for the Wildcats with 4:21 left in the second quarter, and MU went into halftime trailing because Licata threw in one more with five seconds left in the period. Lucas Newton scored just 47 seconds into the second half, and you could argue that Marquette was in a lot of trouble after giving up a 6-1 to Villanova.
But the Golden Eagles ended up playing like they were taking out frustration from last week against Providence. Will Foster tied the game at six each with 11:18 left in the third, and a 5-1 stretch for Marquette had the Golden Eagles up 12-10 with 7:54 left in the fourth. Colin Michener, VU’s top scorer, found the net with 5:05 to go, but Bobby O’Grady, MU’s all-time leading scorer, answered back 43 seconds later to keep MU out in front by two goals.
The clock hit 4:00.
The clock hit 3:00.
Licata scored. One goal lead, 2:11 left.
Licata scored. Tied, 2:00 left.
Luke Raymond scored for Villanova, 14-13 Wildcats, 1:30 to go.
Marquette went from “gonna really throw a wrench into the Big East standings by beating 3-0 Villanova” to “wait, what, how are we trailing?” in just 41 seconds. Bad times, man. Remember that omen I mentioned earlier? Yeah.
Nova won the draw, Marquette couldn’t force a turnover, VU was happy to take a shot clock violation with five seconds left, and that’s your game. Marquette drops to 1-3 in Big East play and will need help to get into the Big East tournament.
Up Next: The regular season ends next week Friday at Valley Fields when Denver comes to town. First draw on the outdoor stadium field is set for 6pm Central, and FloSports will have the broadcast. The Pioneers are set to start against Providence 45 minutes after I type this, and it would be a very big help if they could hand the Friars a loss.