The Golden Eagles need to find a way to shake off whatever has happened to them in the last seven quarters if they want to get to the Big East tournament.
Marquette women’s lacrosse goes into the weekend in fifth place in the seven team Big East with a record of 2-2. They stand a half-game back of a tie for third place between UConn and Georgetown at 2-1, which is a bit of good news, because that’s who Marquette plays in their final two regular season Big East games. If MU wants to get into the four team conference tournament, all they have to do is hand losses to the teams in front of them. Full control of their own destiny, and so on.
The problem with that, of course, is that Marquette is sitting at 2-2 because they have been outscored 34-11 in their last seven quarters of lacrosse. More accurately, the Golden Eagles got smacked 28-5 across five quarters against Denver and Villanova. It certainly felt like absolutely nothing was going right for Marquette for 75 straight minutes, and playing the Wildcats to a 6-6 standstill in the second half last Sunday really didn’t help shake off that sense.
And now they have to find a way to beat a UConn team that just beat that Denver team or a Georgetown team that beat Nova 13-9 and lost to Denver by three. The opponent comparisons here tell us that Marquette might be in a lot of trouble. But that’s why they play the games. Go out, make something happen, get back on track, one game, one quarter, one possession at a time. Deal with UConn on Senior Day on Saturday before you worry about Georgetown on national television in the conference play finale next week. Marquette at their best — they were leading Denver 7-4! — can get these two wins. At their worst? Well, I think we know what that looks like, right?
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Big East Game #5: vs Connecticut Huskies (9-4, 2-1 Big East)
Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
Time: Noon Central
Location: Andy Glockner Memorial Bubble, Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 2-10 all time against UConn. The series started with five straight victories by the Huskies before MU broke through in 2018. The Golden Eagles prevailed again in the regular season meeting in 2023 before falling by one goal in the Big East semifinals later that year. UConn won last year’s contest in Storrs, 17-7.
Well, let’s start with the big news. Remember when Marquette played Denver last week and I made the point that the Pioneers were on a big long winning streak in the Big East, going years and years without taking a league loss of any kind? Yeah, so, UConn beat Denver 14-13 in overtime in Storrs back on Sunday. It was a wild comeback for the Huskies, as the Pios went up 8-3 early in the second quarter and held a 12-7 advantage late in the third as well. UConn pulled within three heading to the fourth, got it within one with 6:42 to go…….. and for a moment, it looked like they were going to fall short. Emma Dacy scored with just seven seconds left in regulation, and then Kelsey Neary tallied her fifth goal of the season on a power play situation with just 27 seconds left in overtime to hand the win to the Huskies. Jenna Giardina was a huge part of the comeback, scoring the first goal and assisting on four more, including each of UConn’s final three goals of the game.
Not only did the win change the calculus of the Big East standings this season, it did a huge favor to the Huskies themselves. They lost their Big East opener to Villanova, 11-7, back on March 22, so the win over Denver balances that one out in terms of the six game Big East schedule. That loss to Nova was the only defeat against an unranked opponent this year — #18 James Madison, #24 Harvard in overtime, and #4 Yale — for UConn, so it was probably pretty fun to get a W against a team that was ranked in the IWLCA top 25 at the time to put one on the board.
As thrilling as that UConn comeback probably was to watch — and go look at the win probability chart for it if you don’t believe me — it’s not quite how the Huskies get things done this season. Lacrosse Reference has them ranked as the #77 offense in the country — they turn the ball over waaaaaaay too much — but way up at #14 in defensive efficiency right now. UConn does have a pair of 30+ goal scorers on the roster with Rayea Davis averaging a little over a hat trick per game and Eliza Bowman just barely under that bar. Most of their scoring is going to come from those two, but the Huskies have five more women averaging at least one goal per game this season to give them some secondary options. Jenna Giardina’s passing during the comeback wasn’t that big of a surprise, as she’s now up to 30 assists on the year. That has her top 25 in the country in terms of assists per game.
Tori Cini probably isn’t going to win Goalkeeper of the Year like Landyn White did each of the past three seasons, but she’s doing enough good work to put the Huskies in position to do things like beat Denver. Her .429 save percentage is second in the Big East amongst regular goalies, just barely behind Denver’s Emelia Bohi, and Cini is second in the league in goals-against average at 11.04 per 60 minutes.
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