Men's Lacrosse: Bellarmine 9, #12 Marquette 3

Marquette had a goal drought of over 28 minutes in the middle of Tuesday afternoon's game against Bellarmine and didn't score at all in the fourth quarter as the Knights upset the #12 Golden Eagles, 9-3.  Austin Shanks led the Bellarmine attack with three goals and three assists on the day.

It took nearly 13 minutes for anyone to score at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium during Tuesday's matinee contest.  MU's Kyle Whitlow was the first one to the scoreboard, giving MU a 1-0 lead, but Bellarmine would respond with one in the final minute from Dylan Gatt.  The second quarter would belong to Bellarmine, as they scored three goals to take a 4-1 lead at the half.  The Knights thoroughly dominated Marquette in the second stanza, outshooting MU 14-4 and snagging a 7-2 advantage on ground balls, too.

Things went back to being quiet to start off the second half, but Jordan Greenfield and Conor Gately tallied goals for Marquette just two minutes apart late in the third frame to make it 4-3 heading to the final period.  That, though, is when the wheels fell off for Marquette.  Shanks scored his second of the game with 13:34 remaining, and BU faceoff star Connor Harryman scooped up the groundball on his ensuing win and scored just six seconds after Shanks' marker.

Bang, zoom, 6-3 favoring the Knights.

Marquette had chances coming down the stretch, but they were never able to capitalize on them.  Tucker Ciessau staked Bellarmine to a 7-3 lead with 2:52 lead, and as Marquette started pressing for turnovers, the Knights started throwing it at the net, scoring two more goals in the next 51 seconds to make the game completely out of reach.

It's just the second loss of the season for the nationally ranked Golden Eagles, but the first one that doesn't make sense.  They lost their Big East opener to a Georgetown squad that was on their way into the Inside Lacrosse Top 25, so that you can't really be terribly disappointed about.  Here, though, Bellarmine was 2-5 coming into the season with three of the losses to teams that Marquette had already beaten this season.  As a result, Marquette's at large chances for the NCAA tournament are likely over, unless they somehow manage to swing multiple wins in upcoming games against national powerhouses Notre Dame, Duke, and Denver.  Even then, it's hard to get one of the few at-large spots, and this did not help.

Up Next: Marquette will have to shake off this result quickly.  They have their home opener of the 2015 season this coming Saturday against St. John's (3-7).  The game will be out at Hart Park in Wauwatosa with the opening faceoff scheduled for noon Central.