Marquette Men’s Lacrosse Hangs One On Robert Morris

Marquette Golden Eagles scored 11 straight goals across a nearly 40 minute stretch on Saturday as they beat Robert Morris, 14-7. The Golden Eagles move to 3-2 on the season after notching a second consecutive victory, while the Colonials drop to 4-3.

For about half a quarter, things were not looking great for Marquette. After Andy DeMichiei scored to break the scorebook open, the Golden Eagles then gave up the next three goals of the game to fall behind 3-1 at the 7:12 mark of the first. Marquette had struggled to assemble offense in their three previous games, and falling behind to the Colonials was a bad sign.

Exactly 60 seconds after the third RMU goal, sophomore John Wagner hit the back of the net, and over the next 39 minutes, Marquette started to erase doubts about what they can accomplish on offense. Ryan McNamara made it 3-3 at the end of the first quarter, and five Marquette goals in the second quarter made it 8-3 at halftime. If that wasn’t enough of a statement that the Golden Eagles were in control, they were also outshooting Robert Morris 27-14, including a 17-1 advantage in the second quarter.

Marquette put the hammer down in the third quarter, tacking on four more goals, including DeMichiei wrapping up his hat trick. They didn’t have that quite of an advantage in the shot department, only out-dueling RMU 11-8, but the four goals made it a 12-3 game, and it was pretty much a comfy coast to the finish line from there. Sure, Robert Morris snapped their scoreless streak with a shorthanded goal at the 12:51 mark of the fourth quarter and outscored the Golden Eagles 4-2 in the final period, but Marquette had pulled Cole Blazer from the net at the 50 minute mark and turned the field over to the deep bench.

Speaking of Blazer, he continued his ridiculous performance this season after winning Big East Defensive Player of the Week. He made eight saves during his 50 minutes of work, including a number of big time stops early in the game when things were still up in the air.

Zachary Melillo had an 11-for-19 performance on faceoffs, which was actually better than that even sounds. The Colonials won the first four faceoffs of the game, so Melillo won 11 of the next 14, and I’m pretty sure that’s good.

DeMichiei finished with a five point day, adding two assists to his three goals. Ryan McNamara had a productive day with three points, and Tanner Thomson got involved with two helpers as well.

Up Next: It’s time to kick off Big East play! Well, almost time. Marquette will get next weekend off before reconvening in Washington, D.C., on March 25 to kick off league action against Georgetown. The Hoyas are 2-4 on the season after beating Hobart on Saturday, and they’ll have games against Duke and Loyola (MD) in between now and then.