“What, a 10 goal loss is encouraging?” Yeah, it is, deal with it.
I knew I wasn’t going to get to attend Friday’s Marquette women’s lacrosse game against #3 Northwestern, that’s how life goes sometimes. Then, things turned against me, and I got busy, and I didn’t even peek at the scoreboard until the game was 75 minutes old.
Could be a lot of things going on. When Marquette faced a top 10 team earlier this season, they were down 7-2 at the end of the first quarter and lost 22-5. That same 22-5 score was the margin in Northwestern’s win over the Niagara team that Marquette beat 16-11.
So, I opened up the live stats…… braced myself………
13-5 Northwestern.
That’s just “yeah, you’re playing a national championship contender” stuff.
Checked out the Goals Scored portion of the live stats…. Marquette had a 3-2 lead just past the midway point of the first quarter, and it was 6-4 Northwestern after 15 minutes. That seems like very much a positive sign that MU’s original game plan for the game was working. Maybe not, given that Northwestern outshot Marquette 14-5 in the first 15 minutes, and the Golden Eagles posted four of their seven failed clearances in the game in the opening frame. But MU definitely made the most of their chances against the #3 ranked Wildcats, and sometimes that’s all you can ask for.
Now, the thing fell apart for Marquette in the third quarter when they got outscored 3-1. 16-6 Northwestern with 4:26 to play in the period, and that means a running clock, too.
But then Marquette scored the first goal of the fourth quarter…. and tacked on two more. 16-9, 10 minutes and change to play.
I’m not naive, I don’t really think Marquette had a chance of scoring 11 unanswered goals and holding the #3 team in the country scoreless for 19 straight minutes.
But did Lauren Grady’s marker make the Wildcats sit up and say, “hey, we have to put them in the ground here?” Yeah, maybe. Little bit of Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania here.
Ric just wouldn’t go down, and maybe because Shawn’s heart wasn’t really into ending the career of an icon, he just couldn’t end the match. There’s Ric, staggering to his feet, shouting at Shawn to just finish it, and he delivers one last Sweet Chin Music kick and gets the win.
That was Northwestern scoring the last three goals of the game. Marquette made them play those minutes straight up because that clock was going with normal rules again up until Lauren Archer’s final goal of the game with 2:48 to play.
It’s hard to beat a top five team. But you can make them beat you, not just run wild all over the place against you, and that’s what Marquette did.
As expected, Marquette’s biggest problem was containing Madison Taylor. Eight goals on nine shots, every single shot on goal, 3-for-3 on free position attempts. Everyone has a problem containing Madison Taylor, so it’s not a surprise that MU had that problem….. but it’s certainly a different game if the Golden Eagles had held to five or six goals, too.
Tess Osburn led Marquette in goals here with three, while Meg Bireley topped the points chart with four on two goals and two assists. We have to give credit to Brynna Nixon in net, as things could have been so much worse for the Golden Eagles if not for her 11 saves, which is a season high.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?
Up Next: Going to be a busy start to Spring Break for the Golden Eagles, as they’ll recover from playing on Friday evening and then be in the Rocky Mountains for a Tuesday afternoon game against Colorado. First Draw on March 11th is set for 2pm Central time, and ESPN+ will have the broadcast. The Buffaloes are currently 1-3 on the season with losses to #15 Stanford, #24 USC, and #3 Northwestern (20-5!) before they beat #25 Army in their home opener on February 28th. The preseason #23 team in the country is hosting #5 Michigan on Saturday before MU comes to town for what will be their first game against an unranked opponent this season.