When: Thursday, April 24, 2014, at 3pm Central
Where: Louisville Lacrosse Stadium in Louisville, KY
Audio/Visual: Fancy stadium, no streaming video. Go figure. Live stats will have to do.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax
I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that anyone's excited about Marquette's 1-5 showing in the Big East so far this season. But the fact of the matter is that overall, the Golden Eagles have a record of 5-10 after going 2-15 a year ago. For a second year program, any steps forward are good ones. By nature of the lone conference win coming against Cincinnati, Marquette is at least guaranteed to not finish on the bottom line of the standings for the year, as they'll at least win a tiebreaker with the Bearcats if it comes down to that.
In more pleasant news, the next point that Amanda Bochniak registers will break the single season team record of 40 points in a season set by Claire Costanza last year. Two more points will push Costanza past her mark from last year, and one more point for sophomore midfielder Hayley Baas will give Marquette three players with at least 30 points on the season after having just Costanza break that mark in 2013.
Somehow, Nikki Boltja was not picked as the preseason Offensive Player of the Year this season. The Cardinals' senior attacker has been obliterating the conference all season long. Boltja's 3.93 goals per game leads the Big East and is a large reason why she's the only player in the conference averaging more than five points per game. That mark also has Boltja ranked #2 in the country in goals per game, and her points average has her ranked 4th in the country.
While Boltja is the most feared attacker on the Cardinals' roster, Faye Brust is actually the reigning Big East Offensive Player of the Week. The junior from Bel Air, Maryland, had two five-goal games last week to pick up that honor. Her five goals against Rutgers came on just five shots.
Louisville's goaltending is a bit of an interesting situation. Senior Ashley Herbst has played the majority of the season, but it's been freshman Ashley Peacock that's taken over and played all of the last 151+ minutes in net. Since taking control of the cage, Peacock has posted a goals-against average of 5.11 and has made 18 saves in just over two and a half games. Louisville's game preview highlights Peacock and not Herbst, even though it will be Senior Day for the Cards, so I'd say it's a safe bet that we'll see the freshman take the field.
Marquette and Louisville faced off last season, with the Cardinals taking a 21-2 win. Boltja, Cortnee Daley, and Kaylin Morissette all had three goals for UL in that game.