When: Saturday, March 1, at 12pm Central
Where: Tenney Stadium in Poughkeepsie, NY
Audio/Visual: $15 for a month's worth of streaming video access, Marist? BOOOOOO. Live stats will be here and probably won't cost you anything.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteMLax
Ok, so last Saturday's game against Ohio State was slightly disappointing. On the surface, a four goal loss to the #15 team in the country that beat you by 10 a year ago isn't too shabby. But Marquette did have a 2-1 lead in the game, and the Golden Eagles allowed OSU to run off a string of six unanswered goals that allowed the Buckeyes a certain amount of operational comfort for the rest of the game.
To focus on some good news, Marquette has resumed their outstanding extra man opportunity offense from a year ago. The Golden Eagles have the best scoring rate in the Big East, converting 56% of their chances into goals. That's the 13th best mark in the country as well. They also have the fewest turnovers in the conference, averaging just 12.3 per game to rank 11th in the country in that regard. As a team that needed to focus on eliminating unforced turnovers this season, it's good to see Marquette being responsible with the ball against high quality opponents to start the season.
Things have not been super this season for Marist. They picked up a 13-12 win over Stony Brook before dropping two contests out in Colorado last weekend in the Frontier Airlines Face Off Classic. It seems that the Red Foxes expended an awful lot of energy in their 15-9 loss to #5 Denver, as they came back and lost 17-9 to Air Force, a quality team to be sure, but not the dominant force that the Pioneers are.
Marquette's EMO offense will be tested against Marist, as the Red Foxes have only allowed four goals during their 11 penalties this season. The Golden Eagles may also get a test at the face off X, as Marist wins 47% of their tries, including winning 14 of 27 against Denver.
Junior Colin Joka has the early lead on the Marist stat sheet, racking up 10 points (9G, 1A). The Red Foxes have a strong core on the attack, with Joseph Radin (7G, 2A), Drew Nesmith (8G), and JD Recor (1G, 6A) right behind Joka. Recor is the most surprising name on the list, as he's a freshman from Lancaster, NY. Sophomore midfielder Dominic Montemurro leads the team in ground balls with 13 on the season.
Goalie is an interesting question for Marist. Brian Corrigan started the first two games of the season, but he was lifted in favor of Dave Scarcello in both games, first at halftime against Stony Brook, then after one quarter against Denver. Scarcello played the full game against Air Force, and the recap of the Denver game on Marist's website doesn't indicate any kind of injury for Corrigan. In any case, Scarcello does have the majority of the minutes this season, and he has the better stats this season, with a goals against average of 13.78 and a save percentage of .404.