Marquette Men's Lacrosse Weekend Preview: vs Detroit & vs Ohio State

Three games, three wins, all by one goal each.  In fact, each of Marquette last seven wins dating back to last season have all been by one goal.  Overall, Marquette is 8-1 in one goal games in the 2+ years of this program, which is mindboggling.  How can one team have an extended run of luck like that?  I mean, it's not all luck, but there's an element of freak chance to one goal games, and generally speaking, you're not going to see a lopsided number like that over a period of time.

In any case, Joe Amplo's Golden Eagles head to Louisville this weekend with a #16 ranking from Inside Lacrosse in their back pocket.  Bellarmine University is hosting the very first Midwest Classic Lacrosse Weekend, giving Marquette the chance to play two games and burnish their already shining record a little bit more.  In the luck of the draw, MU won't actually play Bellarmine this weekend, but they will return to Kentucky later this season to square off with the Knights.

The goals for the weekend are as follows: 1) keep feeding Jordan Greenfield, who was named Player of the Week by the Big East, Inside Lacrosse, and the USILA.  2) Stay undefeated against Detroit.  3) Defeat Ohio State for the first time in program history.  4) Win both games by more than a goal.

Game #4: vs Detroit (2-1)

When: Friday, February 27, 2015, at 2:30pm Central
Where: Owsley B. Frazier Stadium in Louisville, KY
Audio/Visual: Live video, maybe. Live stats here.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteMLax

Marquette is 2-0 all time against the Titans with one win each in both Milwaukee and Detroit.  The Titans were the victim for Marquette's very first home win which came in the very first Division 1 lacrosse game ever played in the state of Wisconsin.  I'm going to predict that Marquette wins this game 16-11.  Why?  Well, the previous two games ended 14-9 and 15-10, so it only seems like the natural progression.

Detroit's started the season off pretty well.  They picked up a season opening win over an Ohio State squad that was receiving votes in the preseason version of the Inside Lacrosse poll, and after stumbling at Michigan, they bounced back with a win over Robert Morris in overtime.  They've got the same disease that Marquette has apparently, as both of their wins have been by just one goal.  Michigan issued them a 15-6 pounding at Oosterbaan Field House, so now I really don't know what to make of the Titans.

Freshman Mark Anstead is your points and goals leader for Detroit, who was picked to finish fourth in the MAAC this season.  Anstead, a Maryland native, has fewer goals in three games (5) than Jordan Greenfield had against Richmond (6), but he's still topping the Titan stat sheet.  Anstead has twice as many assists as anyone else on the team with six, which is also a full third of their total on the season, so I guess we know who BJ Grill will be assigned to cover.  Sophomore Jason Weber has played every minute in net for Detroit this season, and while he's allowing more than 10 goals per 60 minutes, he's stopping 59% of shots on goal, which is pretty good.

Game #5: vs Ohio State (3-1)

When: Sunday, March 1, 2015, at noon Central
Where: Owsley B. Frazier Stadium in Louisville, KY
Audio/Visual: Live video, maybe. Live stats here.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteMLax

While Marquette has experienced victory in two contests against Detroit, they've only suffered loss against Ohio State.  A nationally ranked Buckeyes squad downed the Golden Eagles in the very first game in program history by a final of 18-8.  One year later, Marquette had mastered the concepts of getting off the bus and putting their pads on, and fell to the Buckeyes again, but only by a score of 11-7.  Marquette led that game 2-1 after seven minutes, but the Buckeyes ran off six straight to seize control.

Coming off a 6-8 season, the Buckeyes are sitting at 3-1 in the early goings in 2015.  That aforementioned loss at Detroit opened their season, but they've come back to win three straight back in Columbus to have a shiny record through four games.  As a result of downing Robert Morris, Delaware, and Dartmouth, the Buckeyes are drifting towards the Inside Lacrosse Top 20, currently sitting at an unofficial #23 in the most recent poll.

Ohio State was picked to finish 4th in the six team Big Ten in the conference's inaugural season.  Head coach Nick Myers tabbed three of his guys to the B1G's Players To Watch list: senior midfielder Jesse King and juniors Carter Brown and Robby Haus.  King tallied six points in last year's contest against Marquette on four goals and two assists, while Brown had 1 and 3.  Haus was in the starting trio in that game and had two ground balls and two caused turnovers.

King and Brown are running roughshod on teams, combining for 16 points and 12 assists.  King's the most deadly threat with 12 of those goals, although six different Buckeyes have found the back of the net four times already this season.  Redshirt sophomore Tom Carey has played all but 5 minutes in net for OSU, and he's doing a hell of a job.  He's allowing fewer than six goals per 60 minutes and stopping a crazy 64% of shots that opponents put on frame.