Marquette Women’s Lacrosse Runs Wild On Cincinnati

Megan Menzuber scored six times, tying a program record, on Friday afternoon, including four times in the first half, as Marquette women’s lacrosse exploded out of the gates on their way to a 17-6 victory over Cincinnati. It’s the first win of the 2020 season for head coach Meredith Black’s squad as they even out their record on the year at 1-1.

It’s not a surprise that Marquette got hammered in their opener against #7 Notre Dame last week. Ripping into Cincinnati for six goals in the first 25 minutes at Valley Fields on Friday? That was a little bit surprising, even with two of them coming during Cincinnati penalties. Racking up another four goals in the final four minutes of the half? Okay, that was very surprising, even after the first 25 minutes. In any case, Marquette was sitting on a 10-2 lead at the break and four different Golden Eagles had found the back of the net already.

As much as Marquette’s offense was dazzling, their defense played a major part in building this lead. First: Goalie Jules Horning made four saves on Cincinnati’s six shots on goal. Second: Marquette only allowed seven shots from the Bearcats in the first 30 minutes. Third: Part of the reason why UC only had seven shots in the first half is they only had seven completed clears in 13 attempts. You can’t get a shot off if you don’t even get the ball into your offensive end to start with. That’s six turnovers created by Marquette in their own offensive end, and that goes a long way towards getting 23 shots and 10 goals. Fourth: Those six turnovers were only (about) half of the 11 Cincinnati turnovers in the first half.

Potting 10 goals in 30 minutes: Very good. What Marquette was doing to Cincinnati on defense? Probably better.

Caroline Peterson opened up the scoring in the second half just 25 seconds in. 11-2, Marquette. Cincinnati got a goal after a yellow card on Lydia Foust, but Menzuber got goals #5 and #6 of the day less than 45 seconds apart as the clock ticked under 20 minutes remaining.

That put Marquette up 13-3 and that pretty much was that. It was clear that Cincinnati was never going to get their mojo together to make a comeback, even after Kenna Hancock’s goal with 17 minutes left. Marquette responded by scoring the next four goals to make their stamp on the game, including the first goal for Logan Dobratz since 2018 and the first career goal for Emma Soccodato.

It was a buttkicking, to say the least.

Menzuber added an assist to her day to lead Marquette with seven points. Shea Garcia had a hat trick as well on the scoring end, while Caroline Steller (2G, 3A) and Madison Kane (2G, 2A) both had big point totals for the Golden Eagles. Soccodato and Maria Mulvihill both had two caused turnovers to lead MU in that department, while Emily Cooper (8) and Ellie Henry (6) helped Marquette maintain their hold on the match by teaming up for 14 draw controls.

Up Next: Marquette has a quick turnaround, and they have to head out on the road to do it as well. They’ll be in action next on Monday afternoon when they visit Louisville for a noon Central time start in Kentucky. The Cardinals are 1-1 on the year after beating the same UC team that Marquette just beat as well as falling 15-6 to Big East favorite Denver on Saturday.