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To open the 2015 season, the team from Milwaukee will travel to Houston to take on the nationally ranked team from Baltimore.
No, really, this all makes sense.
As a part of the University of Houston's Women Empowered initiative, Marquette will start their season with a rematch of the 2014 season opener against Johns Hopkins University. It will be the first collegiate women's lacrosse game played in Houston.
The Golden Eagles finished the 2014 season with a record of 5-12 and 1-6 in Big East games. The Golden Eagles were picked to finish seventh in the Big East this season, but they return four players who were all-conference Second Teamers a year ago. Elizabeth Goslee was named the league's preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year this season, and she was MU's lone representative on the preseason all-Big East team. Marquette's offense will be guided by Claire Costanza and Amanda Bochniak, and hopefully they can get some support from Julianna Shearer, who played in seven games last season before missing the rest of the season due to injury. Hayley Baas may have deserved a spot on the all-Big East squad, as she provides action for the Golden Eagles on both ends of the field.
Game #1: vs #17 Johns Hopkins (0-0)
When: Sunday, February 8, 2015, at noon Central
Where: Carl Lewis Track & Field Complex in Houston, TX
Audio/Visual: GoMarquette.com is providing a FREE video stream, plus live stats.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax
A year ago, Marquette and Johns Hopkins opened the season in Baltimore. The Golden Eagles jumped out to the early lead less than two minutes in as Amanda Bochniak exploded onto the scene with the first goal of her collegiate career. Fellow freshman Julianne Shearer notched her first goal in college in that game as well, but two things about her goal must be remembered. First, Shearer broke a 4-0 run by the Blue Jays, and secondly, it was the last goal that MU would score en route to a 16-2 loss to the nationally ranked JHU squad.
Johns Hopkins used to be a member of the American Lacrosse Conference, but thanks to the Big Ten starting to sponsor the sport this spring, there is no more ALC. Former ALC members Florida and Vanderbilt are in the Big East now, but JHU is electing to go the independent route. It's kind of funny, because JHU's men's lacrosse team is joining the Big Ten, but the women's side is not.
Johns Hopkins lost four seniors from the team that slashed their way through the Golden Eagles a year ago. Two of them, Taylor D`Amore and Sarah Taylor, combined to score five goals against MU, and D`Amore also added four assists in that contest. While it's nice to see that firepower depart, the Blue Jays do return junior midfielder Dene DiMartino, who had three goals against the Golden Eagles, as well as senior attacker Jen Cook, who fired five goals past Sarah Priem and helped on two more. KC Emerson is still the netminder for JHU. She had three saves in 37 minutes against Marquette a year ago.