The objective for the Golden Eagles: Make this look better than the opener against Michigan.
I’m not going to waste a lot of time previewing this game, or rather, I’m not going to waste a lot of time talking about where Marquette men’s lacrosse is at this point of the season.
Here’s the deal for Saturday’s game against the undefeated and #1 ranked two-time reigning national champions:
Either A) Marquette plays well enough to at least split the difference between their 14-1 loss to Michigan in the opener and their 16-6 win over Detroit Mercy last weekend
OR
B) The Golden Eagles do NOT do that and they get run out of the Loftus Center in South Bend.
If “give up 14 unanswered goals to the preseason #15 team in the country” Marquette shows up, Notre Dame’s going to spend 60 minutes giving the Golden Eagles the business. If “beat Detroit Mercy by 10 for Jake Richard’s first victory as head coach” Marquette shows up….. well, Notre Dame could, can, and probably still would win. But it might — KEY WORD ALERT — not be a bloodbath early and often.
Game #3: at #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-0)
Date: Saturday, February 15, 2025
Time: 11am Central
Location: Loftus Sports Center, Notre Dame, Indiana
Streaming: ACC Network Extra, which is available if your cable package gets ACCN.
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteMLax
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle, at least until it gets out of control
The Line: Marquette +14.5 from our friends at Draft Kings.
Marquette is 0-12 all time against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have been ranked for each and every single one of those games. MU had a run of one goal losses back in 2016-18, with a 15-9 loss in the NCAA tournament mixed in there. ND has won the last three contests by at least 10 goals, including last year’s 21-8 contest in Milwaukee.
Notre Dame is 1-0 so far this season after opening the year with a win against Cleveland State, which just happens to be the very next team that Marquette will play this season. As such, this means MU’s visit to South Bend is something of a measuring stick for next week. Can Marquette do better against the preseason #1 team in the country than CSU’s 24-6 result? The Vikings fell behind 3-0 out of the gate, but it was 3-2 before the clock hit 6 minutes remaining in the first. ND then scored the final four goals of the quarter and then the first eight goals of the second quarter. 15-2 Irish after 29 minutes, 15-3 after 30 minutes went by.
That’s the measuring stick for Marquette. Don’t let that happen to you, and maybe you can have an nice game against Cleveland State next week.
Marquette’s problems in this game appear to be reduced to “do you stop Jake Taylor or do you stop Chris Kavanagh?” Taylor scored seven times against Cleveland State, with his last strike coming as the goal that opened the scoring in the third quarter. Kavanagh finished with a game high in points with nine on four goals and five assists, and his final point of the day against Cleveland State came on a goal with 6:42 left in the third.
In short: 11 goals, five assists, none in the final 20 minutes. Could have done more, but the Irish pulled their foot off the gas once they were up 18-3. If Marquette doesn’t wrap those two guys up early and often, then we’ll be staring down the possibility that they won’t play in the fourth quarter against MU either.
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