When: Sunday, April 27, 2014, at 1pm
Where: Valley Fields
Audio/Visual: You'll have to make do with live stats.
Special Promotions: The first 400 students in attendance will get a free pair of MU sunglasses, and every student will have a chance to win a $100 Spirit Shop gift card.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax
If you noticed the timestamp on when this was published, you'll probably find yourself wondering why this post went up at 5am on a Sunday. It's a very simple reason, actually. 5am here in Milwaukee is the exact midpoint between when USC's game against Northwestern ended and when the MU-USC game starts. The Trojans lost to Northwestern at Wrigley Field last night by a final score of 12-7, and they turn around and take on Marquette in Milwaukee just 16 hours after that game ended. I can't really speak to how the quick turnaround will affect USC, but it can't help that the Women of Troy only used 15 players against Northwestern out of the 36 that are listed on the official roster.
Marquette comes in having lost six straight games, with all six coming in Big East action. With their 1-6 record in league games, it's not a surprise that MU did not qualify for the conference tournament. With that said, this one final home game will give head coach Meredith Black and her charges a chance to finish the 2014 season with three times as many wins as they had during the 2013 season. All you really want to see from a second year program is progress, and that was definitely accomplished in 2014.
Amanda Bochniak and Claire Costanza both broke the Marquette single season points record in the last game for the Golden Eagles. Strangely, they managed to get to 41 points on the season on the same goal, with Bochniak burying a pass from Costanza. Later in the game, Costanza would tack on a goal to give her the lead heading into the USC game. Marquette's first goal against Louisville gave Hayley Baas 30 points on the season, giving MU a trio of 30 point scorers after only Costanza managed that plateau a year ago.
The Trojans come in having lost four of their last five games. The upside is that the lone win in that stretch was at home over #13 Stanford. USC finished their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (no, they don't play in the Pac-12 for WLax) with a record of 6-3, so they'll be looking forward to the MPSF tournament next weekend.
Caroline de Lyra leads USC with 42 (25G, 17A) points on the season, and freshman Alex Moore is right behind her with 40 points on a team high 31 goals and nine assists. 5'10" sophomore Amanda Johansen controls things on the draw, leading USC with 51 wins on the year. Sophomore defender Courtney Tarleton leads all field players with 29 ground balls on the season.
Goalie Liz Shaeffer has the overall team lead in ground balls with 44. Schaeffer allows just a smidge over 10 goals per 60 minutes, and she's stopping 37% of shots on frame this season.