FINALLY Men's Lacrosse Has Come Home!

MEN'S LACROSSE

Tomorrow's the day we've all been waiting for! Marquette men's lacrosse plays their first ever home game. YOUR Golden Eagles will face off with Detroit at 7pm Central out at Hart Park in Wauwatosa. If you're a student on campus wondering what the easiest way to get to Hart Park is, the athletic department has you covered. Just head over to the Sports Annex just like you would for men's basketball and take the FREE shuttle out to Tosa. You're probably going to want to head out there early, as there's going to be a FREE barbecue starting at 5:30pm on the east side of the stadium out there. In addition to THAT, the first 1,000 fans in attendance will get a free MU lacrosse bandanna.

Let's look at the opposition, shall we? The Titans are 2-8 on the season, with both wins coming in their last four games. They've played two teams that Marquette has also played, a 9-8 overtime loss to Jacksonville and a 14-8 loss to Ohio State in their regular season opener. Alex Maini and Mike Birney have both found the back of the net 17 times for UDM with Maini finding time for two more assists than Birney to earn the team scoring lead. Maini and Birney are just two of four Titans to start all 10 games this season. 16 different players have earned a spot on the field at the opening faceoff, and that includes two different netminders. A.J. Levell is the primary goalie for Detroit. He's accumulated a goals-against average of 10.19 on the season while stopping 52% of the shots on goal.

We'll wrap up here with a preview video from GoMarquette.com with comments from Jerry Nobile, Cullen Cassidy, and head coach Joe Amplo:

WOMEN'S LACROSSE

Hey, how many ranked teams are on this schedule, anyway?

This weekend's Friday/Sunday road trip for the women's lacrosse team features the #5 and #19 ranked teams in the most recent deBeer Media Poll. That will make four straight ranked teams for Marquette, and five out of the last seven, all coming from being scheduled as if they were a regular Big East team this season. And we're breaking up this conference for football??

In any case, #19 Connecticut is up tonight. Game time is at 6pm Central, and you can get live stats here or in game updates from @MarquetteWLax. The Huskies have won 11 of 12 games this season, with the lone loss coming against Syracuse, which is Marquette's Sunday opponent. Four of those wins have come in overtime, so they're really good and they aren't afraid of things when the going gets tough, either.

The Huskies have five - count 'em, FIVE - players with more than 20 goals this season. For comparative purposes, Marquette is led by Kenzie Brown with exactly 20 goals. Three of those five scorers have also tallied at least 11 assists, so they're more than happy to share the scoring responsibilities. Junior midfielder Lauren Kahn has the team lead in both categories with 27 goals and 22 assists. The Huskies are doing all of this winning with a freshman in net. Shannon Nee has started every game for UConn, posting a goals-against average of 9.08 and a save percentage of .440.

As I already mentioned, Sunday sends the Golden Eagles to Ice Station Zebra for a game with #5 Syracuse. That one will get started at 11:30am Central. The live stats for that one should end up over here. Syracuse is 11-3 on the season, with all three losses coming to teams ranked in the top five in the country. They've won five straight games on the field, but they've suffered a significant loss off of it. Senior attacker Michelle Tumolo tore her left ACL in their most recent contest against #20 Cornell on Tuesday. Tumolo sits second on the team in points, with the team lead in points carrying most of the weight for her. She'll miss the rest of the season, and Syracuse will play their first game since the injury tonight against #7 Notre Dame.

As for the rest of the scoring for the Orange, junior attacker Alyssa Murray is the points and goals leader for Syracuse. She has 40 goals on the season, and I'd be happy to tell you where that ranks her in the country, but the NCAA only updates stats once a week. All I can tell you is that 40 goals would have had her ranked 28th in the country back on Monday. Murray also has 20 assists, and that's impressive, especially when you consider that Tumolo is the only other Orange player with more than 10 assists. Sophomore Kelsey Richardson has done a majority of the work in net for the Orange, including starts in the last nine games. Her goals-against average sits at 7.52 for the season and she's stopping 39.6% of shots on goal.