The Golden Eagles allow 14 unanswered goals in Jake Richard’s debut as head coach.
For about 15 minutes, we were having a nice little start to the 2025 Marquette men’s lacrosse season. Marquette won the opening faceoff, the Golden Eagles fended off some wide shots from #15 Michigan, and Conor McCabe hopped off the bench to put Marquette up 1-0 with just under 12 minutes left in the period. The Wolverines didn’t get a goal until the clock wound under six minutes left in the frame, and ultimately, it was a 1-1 tie after 15 minutes.
And then the wheels completely fell off for Marquette as they got outscored 13-0 the rest of the way and took a 14-1 loss in Jake Richard’s first game as head coach.
Marquette got outshot 40-15 in the last three quarters.
Marquette got outhustled to ground balls 30-9 in the last three quarters.
Marquette went 12-for-17 on clearances in the last three quarters.
I should be clear about this: It was pretty over at 8-1 at the end of the third quarter, and then Michigan scored six more times. No one in particular ran wild for the Wolverines, with five guys tallying two goals each for the home team. Is it a problem that Marquette let Ryan Cohen fire off 14 shots when he was the #1 name on the scouting report? I’ll let you decide.
Credit to Michigan goalie Hunter Taylor. He did have 10 saves, and just to draw that six goal fourth quarter into further relief, Taylor had all 10 of his saves before the final frame started. I can’t even say that Lucas Lawas had a bad day in Marquette’s net. He made 10 saves of his own, and sure, .417 isn’t a save percentage that you want to see, but it’s not like he had much of a hope out there with MU getting outshot that badly in the final 45 minutes.
Look, did I expect Marquette to jump up and beat the preseason #15 team in the country in the season opener? No, I did not. But I was hoping for “well, you can see the foundation in place here” and instead I got “the contractors were supposed to show up today and no one’s answering the phone.”
Up Next: Marquette will take another crack at Jake Richard’s first victory as head coach next week Saturday when they host Detroit Mercy at Valley Fields. First draw on that one is set for 2:30pm Central as it’s coming after a women’s lacrosse scrimmage against University of Chicago. The Titans will open their season on Tuesday afternoon with a road game against Ohio State before they come to Milwaukee over the weekend.