ah, crap, a ranked team again
Tell you what: I’ll assess things about Marquette men’s lacrosse under the direction of Jake Richard when they’re headed into a game against a ranked opponent after they keep a game like that closer than 10 goals.
So far this season:
vs #15 Michigan: -13
vs #1 Notre Dame: -13
Not much to say until they start keeping these things close….. and it’s worth noting that Georgetown is currently ranked #10 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll, and Denver is at #15.
Game #5: at #12 Harvard Crimson (2-1)
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Time: 11am Central
Location: Jordan Field, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteMLax
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
The Line: Marquette +7.5 from our friends at Draft Kings
This is the first ever meeting between Marquette and Harvard.
The Crimson were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League this season, but that doesn’t mean that they were expected to be a pushover and now they’re suddenly riding high. When you’re in a league with two preseason top five teams (Cornell & Princeton) and another in the top 10 (Yale) and another in the top 15 (Penn), it’s hard to be picked higher than fifth….. even if you yourself are the preseason #18 team in the country.
In any case, Harvard immediately paid off that preseason ranking in their first game of the season, as they headed out to Rhode Island and downed a Providence squad that blipped into the last spot in the top 20 at the time. Three days later, Harvard flubbed their home opener and took a 19-15 loss to Colgate, mostly because they gave up a 7-2 second quarter to the Raiders. That’s fine, big picture-wise, as they turned around four days after that and went up to Syracuse and toppled the #6 ranked Orange, 15-14, last week Saturday.
You’re probably wondering now, so let me answer the question: Yes, this is Harvard’s equivalent of a “take it easy” game, as their next four are all against teams currently in the Inside Lacrosse media poll top 20, and the middle two are Ivy League games.
Harvard presents an interesting riddle for the Marquette defense. On one hand, Sam King is the top point getter on the roster right now, but he’s getting to his team-best 16 points by way of a team high 11 assists. Miles Botkiss is #2 on the team with six assists, so you can see the value that King is getting his team here. Teddy Malone and Jack Speidell both have nine goals to lead the Crimson in that department, so it’s not like they’re without talent there. Malone is coming off a four goal day against Syracuse, and we should point out that King had what passes for a quiet day for him against the Orange. Two goals and an assist was his output there, but when it’s working, you run with it.
I’m guessing it’s not often that you see a freshman goalie getting the call in net at an Ivy League team, but that’s what happens when Graham Stevens was the #15 prospect in the country according to Inside Lacrosse. There’s probably questions to be asked about Harvard’s defense in general since Stevens is letting in 14.33 goals per 60 minutes against a pretty tough schedule so far, but I don’t think it’s really Stevens letting them down. He’s got a .476 save percentage, which is probably just fine given the strength of schedule so far.
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