The Golden Eagles have to shake off how the last 45 minutes of action went and get back on track towards the postseason as they visit the Wildcats.
If “was up 7-4 on Denver after 15 minutes” Marquette women’s lacrosse shows up in Philadelphia on Sunday, Villanova’s probably in a lot of trouble.
If “got outscored 19-3 in the final 45 minutes against Denver, including a combined 15-0 in the 2nd and 4th quaters” Marquette shows up, well, the Golden Eagles are probably in a lot of trouble.
Losing to Denver isn’t the issue. Getting outshot 30-13 over the final three quarters is no good. Committing 19 turnovers in the final three quarters is no good. Failing six clears in the final 45 minutes is no good. Getting beat on draws 17-9 in the final three quarters is no good.
That’s what happened the last time that Marquette grabbed their sticks and put on their goggles. That’s what has to be lurking in the back of the Golden Eagles’ heads as they head out east in search of their third Big East victory of the season. Whatever the problem or problems were — and it can’t just be “Denver real good,” way too much went wrong for that to be the case — Marquette has to solve them on Sunday.
The Golden Eagles are already at the halfway point of league play. They have gone 2-1 in their first three games, and their last three games starts on Sunday. They can not let a bad three quarters against Denver impact another game. There’s just not enough margin left to let what appears to be a winnable game slide past you because you haven’t quite recovered from an awful outing a few days earlier, not when all three remaining league games are against the three teams that you’re competing with for the final three spots in the conference tournament.
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Big East Game #4: at Villanova Wildcats (8-4, 2-1 Big East)
Date: Sunday, April 6, 2025
Time: 11am Central
Location: Villanova Stadium, Villanova, Pennsylvania
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax
Marquette is 6-6 all time with Villanova. This series has gone in groups for one side or the other: Three for Villanova, three for Marquette, two for Nova, three for MU, and then last year’s 17-14 Wildcat victory in Milwaukee that stopped the Golden Eagles from reaching the Big East tournament.
It feels like Villanova has been on the verge of a special season on the Main Line since the third game of the season, but they’ve never quite tipped the thing over to get there. 17-16 loss at home to then-#17 Navy was their first loss of the season, bouncing back from a 13-9 deficit to get it within one goal but never pushing it across the line. Then, a 14-13 loss at #8 Stanford as an 11-9 third quarter lead fell apart on them thanks to four Cardinal goals in about three minutes of game time between the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter.
Their Big East opener finally allowed the Wildcats to turn the corner on a ranked win, as they beat then-#25 UConn 11-7. The Huskies scored just four goals after the first quarter, including the last two of the game. That would seem to be a good sign of how things might be going for Villanova, but last time out was a 13-9 loss on the road against Georgetown on Wednesday. That one could have gone in either direction as Nova pulled within one goal with just over five minutes to play, but the Hoyas got an insurance goal less than 40 seconds later and then tacked on two more late. That loss, combined with Marquette’s loss, left Denver alone in first place in the league and created a stack-up in the middle of the conference with a bunch of teams with one loss.
Marquette’s defense is presented with an interesting conundrum for Sunday. Sami Carey is Villanova’s top point getter with 57 on the year, 17 more than Sydney Pappas. However, Carey is doing this with 39 assists, and her per game rate ranks her 8th in the country as of Friday morning. Quite obviously: Shut down Carey’s passing, and you break up a lot of what makes Villanova the #35 most efficient offense in the country according to Lacrosse Reference. Over 30% of Villanova’s goals that aren’t 1) scored by Carey or 2) off a free position have an assist from the senior from New York. If you can stop her from connecting with her teammates, you’re going to make things very complicated and difficult for Nova.
Meanwhile, Pappas’ 30 goals lead the way for Villanova in that department. She’s got nearly 20 more shots than anyone else on the roster, and I’d imagine that Pappas and Carey have connected on more than a few goals this season. Denying Carey’s passing seems like it might be the more logical way to attack Nova’s offense, but that can’t come at the expense of allowing running room to Pappas.
Villanova’s goalkeeping this season has been split somewhat evenly, minutes-wise, between Cate Gallagher and Makenzie Fisher, but the trend indicates that Marquette will see Gallagher in net when the first draw goes off on Sunday. She’s started all three of Nova’s Big East games so far and each of their last seven games overall. Gallagher’s numbers are clearly better, allowing just 8.55 goals per 60 minutes and stopping nearly 43% of shots on goal. The save percentage is indicative of Gallagher doing her job, but the goals-against might not be telling us anything strong. Villanova is 84th in the country in offensive pacing according to Lacrosse Reference and 35th in time of possession. “The ball is over there for long stretches” helps lower that GAA, as does Nova outshooting teams by 11 shots per game. Marquette is likely to make that much more even on Sunday, so we’ll see how Gallagher and her field defenders stand up to an increased level of offensive pressure.