On Saturday at Hart Park in Wauwatosa, men's lacrosse failed to score goals in both the second and fourth quarters. Now, I imagine that if you look at a lot of lacrosse games, you can probably find a lot of teams going scoreless for two different 15 minute stretches. But it's very noticeable when it actually occupies the frames set down by the official time clock.
But while the Marquette offense was sputtering and having trouble handling the ball, the defense was not in question. Specifically, goalie Jimmy Danaher, who was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week. The freshman from Blauvelt, NY, made a career high 15 saves, one short of the program record, while driving the Golden Eagles to a 7-6 victory against Providence that put them knocking on the door of a Big East tournament spot. That was the obvious reason why Danaher won the weekly award, but he wasn't shabby against #8 Notre Dame on Tuesday, either. Danaher finished the week with a goals-against average of 9.50 and a save percentage of .521.
Danaher wasn't the only Golden Eagle to earn recognition from the Big East this week. Bryan Badolato treated fans at Hart Park to a little Whitney Houston on the PA system on three occasions, recording his third hat trick of the season. For accounting for three of MU's seven goals in their crucial win over Providence, Badolato was named to the Weekly Honor Roll.
Marquette returns to action on Saturday when they take on Georgetown at 2pm at Hart Park.