Meg Bireley broke the program’s all time goals record on the first goal of the game, but the Golden Eagles didn’t take control until the second quarter.
Let’s start with the big news coming out of Saturday’s Big East opener for Marquette women’s lacrosse: Meg Bireley is now your all-time goals leader, breaking Grace Gabriel’s record with her 176th career goal on the very first goal of the game, just 46 in.
NO. 1⃣
Meg is now the career goals leader in program history!!#WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/AAciIPkdrY
— Marquette Women’s Lacrosse (@MarquetteWLax) March 22, 2025
Bireley left Marquette’s previous game with the all-time points record already with her name attached to it, and her last goal of that game had tied her with Gabriel. Given that she’s the top goal scorer in the Big East so far this season, it was only a matter of time in this contest as to when she’d find the net. Marquette went straight to her out of the gate, and on we went from there.
As far as going from there goes: I have a theory about lacrosse. Ready? It’s very technical.
You have to have the ball in order to score goals.
I know, right? Revolutionary stuff.
The first quarter in Indianapolis on Sunday ended with Marquette holding a 4-2 lead on Butler, and it very nearly was 3-2 because Hanna Bodner just barely snuck a goal in before the horn after Brynna Nixon made a save on the other end with 17 seconds left. The point here, though, is that after Marquette got that opening draw control to lead to Bireley’s goal, Butler won all of the five remaining draws in the quarter. That’s how the Bulldogs were able to put a lid on Marquette’s scoring as well as put a few goals of their own in the net.
Entry #2 in my theory: Marquette won five of the six draw controls in the second quarter. The result? Five unanswered goals in the quarter, blanking Butler for 15 straight minutes and going into halftime up 9-2.
Entry #3 in my theory: Marquette won six of the seven draw controls in the third quarter. The result? Six unanswered goals and only a goal with 40 seconds left in the quarter stopped Marquette from a second straight shutout frame.
Marquette started winning draws, and they went on a 12-0 run. They held Butler scoreless from the 0:57 mark in the first til the 0:40 mark in the third. 15-3 Marquette heading to the fourth, and it probably could have gotten more lopsided if the 10 goal running clock hadn’t kicked in with 9:12 left in the third.
Like I said earlier: It was a matter of time before Meg Bireley got the record breaking goal in this game, as she finished with a game high six goals and tacked on an assist to get a game high in points, too. She continues to reset the program record in both goals and points every time she scores for the rest of the season.
Bireley wasn’t the only one rolling in this game. Hanna Bodner and Isabelle Casucci both had hat tricks, while Tess Osburn had two goals and four assists to end up one point shy of tying Bireley for the team lead there. Marquette ended up winning draw controls in the game 15-8, and they did it on a team effort with Sarah Beth Burns leading the way with four. All of that Marquette possession led to a quiet first 45 minutes for Brynna Nixon in net, as she ended up with five saves on eight shots on goal before giving way to Mikayla Yang to finish things off. Yang ended up on the positive side of the save/goals allowed ledger as well, stopping four while letting in two in the fourth quarter. Nixon gets credit for the win, and that extends her program record for for wins by a goalie.
Oh, right: Can’t forget that this was the Big East opener, and so Marquette is 1-0 and in first place in the league. Nice.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?
Up Next: More non-conference action, believe it or not. The Golden Eagles return to action with a mid-week matinee coming up on Tuesday before they get back into Big East action next weekend. Arizona State comes to Milwaukee on Tuesday for a noon Central start, and FloSports will have the streaming broadcast there. The Sun Devils are 7-3 on the year after taking a 20-10 loss to Dartmouth in a neutral site game in Houston back on Friday.