Marquette Women’s Lacrosse Preview: at Vanderbilt Commodores

Last year, Marquette finished 7-10 on the season for the best record in program history.

At 5-11 on the year, the Golden Eagles are not going to get back to the seven win mark this season. However, they can get back to six wins by defeating Vanderbilt in the season finale and they can match last year’s Big East win total with four with a W against the Commodores.

So that’s something for MU to hang their hat on as head coach Meredith Black continues to build her program into a contender. Either way, it will be the season finale for the Golden Eagles, as they’ve already been knocked out of the Big East tournament. Same goes for Vanderbilt, as both teams are 3-5 right now, well short of fourth place Temple’s 6-2 mark.

There will be a number of historic markers set down in this game, regardless of the outcome, by the way.

Julianna Shearer Watch: The senior from Maryland can now lay claim to being the best goal scorer in Marquette history. After netting five against Butler, Shearer has Marquette’s record for goals in a career (112), making her the first player in program history with 100 career goals, as well as the record for goals in a season with 52 thus far in 2017. She’s the first Golden Eagle to hit 40 goals in a season, and as you might expect, she’s the first to ever get to 50 as well. Shearer is dueling with Grace Gabriel for the single season shots record, with Shearer’s 101 currently leading Gabriel’s 99. Both have surpassed the previous record of 74.

Fran Meyer Watch: The senior from Illinois has a career record and is on the verge of a single season record as well. Meyer has 30 caused turnovers this season, giving her 90 in her career to surpass Elizabeth Goslee’s career record of 88. The 30 CTs this year also tie Goslee’s record for caused turnovers in a season, so as long as she can poke one ball free against VU, Meyer will get the single season mark as well. Her two ground balls against Butler gave her 33 on the season and 103 in her career, leaving her just three short of Elizabeth Goslee in second place all time at 106. That’s actually the Marquette record for field players, as goalie Sarah Priem holds the all time record at 157.

Grace Gabriel Watch: Only three women have ever scored 30 goals in a season for Marquette: Allison Lane, Julianna Shearer, and now Grace Gabriel. She scored twice against Butler to get to 38 on the season, surpassing Shearer’s old single season record and leaving her just two markers shy of becoming the second 40 goal scorer in program history. Gabriel is dueling with Shearer for the single season shots record, with Shearer’s 101 currently leading Gabriel’s 99. Both have surpassed the previous record of 74. In her free time, Gabriel has obliterated the MU record for draw controls in a season, grabbing up 76 of them this season to best Shearer’s record of 46.

Claire Costanza Watch: We haven’t been keeping careful track of it all year because, well, honestly, saying “Claire Costanza broke her own record for career points again” isn’t that much fun. With nine goals and 27 assists this season, Costanza has extended her program record in points to 162 and her program record for assists to 96. She has surrendered her single season points record to both Julianna Shearer (56) and Amanda Bochniak (48) this season, as both of those women have surpassed Costanza’s old record of 46. Costanza is in a duel for the single season assists record, though.....

Amanda Bochniak Watch: .... as Bochniak and Costanza are both tied for the new record of 27, surpassing Costanza’s old record of 25 set in 2015. Bochniak needed five helpers against Butler to pull even with Costanza at the final horn last time out, as the grad student had three of her own against the Bulldogs.

Big East Game #9: at Vanderbilt Commodores (6-8, 3-5 Big East)

When: Sunday, April 30, 2017, at 1pm Central
Where: Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex in Nashville, TN
Audio/Visual: VU will be streaming the game via Facebook Live. There will also be live stats.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWLax

Marquette is 1-1 all time against Vanderbilt. The Commodores took the first ever meeting back in 2015 by a score of 11-9, while the Golden Eagles won in Milwaukee last season, 11-7.

The ‘Dores come into the game in a bit of a spiral, having lost their last four games and five of the last six. Each of the last two losses came by just a single goal, and Vanderbilt held a lead late in both games. Temple scored the final three goals of the game, including the game winner with 1:04 remaining two weeks ago, while in last week’s game, VU and Cincinnati combined for three goals in the final 90 seconds. It looked like Julie Blaze had forced overtime for Vanderbilt when she scored with 25 seconds left, but UC’s Amanda Donovan bucketed the game winner with just three seconds remaining. Vanderbilt’s postseason fate had already been sealed before the Cincy game, but that is one big ugly kick in teeth to add insult to injury at that point.

Blaze is VU’s leading scorer this season, as that late goal gave her a team high 31 markers on the year. It is a close race for the lead, though, as Kayla Peterson (29) and Jill Doherty (27) are not that far behind Blaze. Thanks to 22 assists on the season, Doherty has the team lead in points at 49, good enough for a tie with MU’s Julianna Shearer for the 10th most points per game in the Big East.

Callahan Kent has resumed her goaltending duties for the Commodores over the last two games. After giving up six goals in eight minutes against Florida, she was pulled and missed the next three games. Kent is still the best goalie VU has, allowing fewer than 10 goals per 60 minutes this season and stopping over 45% of shots on goal. She is a senior, and since it is VU’s Senior Day on Sunday, there’s no reason not to expect her to be the starter.