It’s a little weird to say that Game #2 of the year is pivotal, but here we are.
There are two possibilities of what Marquette men’s lacrosse opening up the season with a 14-1 loss to #15 Michigan means for the team in 2025.
The first is an optimistic one: Marquette was probably never going to be on the level of a nationally ranked opponent in Jake Richard’s first season, and the combination of 1st game of the season + 1st game with a 1st time head coach + nationally ranked opponent led to the whole thing going belly up on Marquette in an unfortunate way for the first 60 minutes of the season. Now that the team has gotten that bag of jitters out of the way, they can go about the business of getting better as a team as the season goes along.
The second possibility is a pessimistic one: Marquette’s bad, and there’s nothing that anyone in a uniform or on the sideline can do about it.
If this was high school debate club, I could mount a case for either side pretty well. The sides pretty much boil down to “ah, whaddya gonna do” versus “getting outshot 40-15 in the final three quarters after winning the first quarter 11-9 is a real bad look.”
And so, Game #2 of the year turns into kind of a pivotal contest for Richard and his squad. They have to spend their home opener proving that they’ve got something else in the bag for this season other than being the kind of team that gets nearly tripled up in shots across 45 minutes by a ranked team. Not just because it’s going to be a very long season if they don’t do that….. but because next week is a visit to two-time reigning national champions and preseason #1 Notre Dame. If Marquette struggles with Detroit Mercy…….. well, it’s going to be a long remaining 11 games of the season after that.
BY THE WAY: Saturday’s game is part of a doubleheader with the women’s lacrosse team hosting an exhibition game against University of Chicago at 11am Central. If you’re planning on attending the men’s game, you’re probably best off building in some extra time getting yourself parked, situated, and into the Valley Fields bubble.
REMINDER: Marquette’s home contests are streamed nearly exclusively on FloSports, and the same goes for almost all Big East home games and almost all league schedule contests. If you are paying full price for FloSports at $30 a month, you are doing it wrong. Please use this link to pay $20 via the new-ish FloCollege offering.
Game #2: vs Detroit Mercy Titans (0-1)
Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025
Time: 2:30pm Central, presuming the 11am scrimmage ends after two-ish hours
Location: Andy Glockner Memorial Bubble, Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteMLax
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle, following the conclusion of the MBB game
Marquette is 10-1 all time against Detroit Mercy. The Golden Eagles won the first six meetings, which included the first ever home game in program history. After taking a 15-12 loss in the Valley bubble in 2019, MU has won the last four meetings, including a 22-8 victory a year ago in Milwaukee.
Detroit Mercy is coming off their fifth straight season with no more than three wins. Yes, the first two campaigns in that run are 2020, which ended after five games and 2021, which lasted just seven. Right before that, the Titans had back-to-back winning seasons, so it’s been a bit of a tumble since then. Things are not expected to be much better in 2025, as UDM moves from the ASUN to the recently restarted NEC, but they were picked to finish sixth out of eight teams in the league. That’s particularly a bummer for them, as four different squads earned at least one first place vote. Mercyhurst, who was picked seventh, isn’t even eligible for the NEC postseason tournament. Rough look for Wagner, as the school is a founding member of the NEC, but they’re picked to finish last here anyway.
The Titans are not off to a hot start in 2025 after losing 14-4 on the road against Ohio State to start the season on Tuesday. Does being tied at three with 12 minutes left in the second quarter make this better or worse? Is it definitely worse because Ohio State was up 3-0 at the end of the first quarter and then up 9-3 at halftime?
Zach Gleason was Detroit Mercy’s top scorer against the Buckeyes, tallying their first and fourth goal of the game. He was the only multi-point guy in the game, and he put four of his five shots on frame. Is it a good thing or a bad thing for the Titans that he’s a freshman? Good news: Quality debut. Bad news: No one returning did better than him.
Then again, UDM did lose their top two point scorers from last season. Of course, they do return three 15 goal scorers from 2024, led by Aiden Bishop who had 21 goals and five assists to end up as the top returning point man.
Ryan Richters got the start in net for Detroit Mercy against Ohio State, and he went the full 60 minutes. Richters played every single minute in net a year ago as a junior, and the Temecula native had a save percentage of .491. He also had a goals-against average of 14.92, which was definitely not helped by allowing 22 goals to the Golden Eagles last season.