Marquette Women’s Lacrosse Suffers A Frustrating Loss To San Diego State

Maybe it’s just me, maybe Marquette women’s lacrosse, players and coaches, aren’t frustrated with how Tuesday’s 18-12 loss to San Diego State went.

Here’s what I see: I see Marquette’s defense holding SDSU scoring superstar Deanna Balsama to just 5 shots in the entire game and without a goal until the fourth quarter. I see Marquette scoring leader Shea Garcia limited to just three shots and an assist in 60 minutes.

I see Marquette wiping out a 3-0 start by the Aztecs in the first three minutes of the game by snapping off the next four goals...... but then also giving up a 6-0 run to fall behind 9-4 and thus end up chasing the game the rest of the way.

I see Marquette pulling within two, 10-8, on a goal from Emma Soccodato with 2:43 left in the first half.... but then handing one back less than a minute later to tail by three at intermission..... and then give up the first three goals of the third quarter to fall behind by six for the first time.

I see Marquette getting a goal from Kyra LaMotte with exactly four minutes left in the third quarter to pull within four and get this thing within shouting distance with 19 minutes to go..... and then not scoring against for over 12 minutes while allowing three SDSU goals.

I see Marquette generating a season high 41 shots and putting 30 of them on frame... but only coming up with 12 goals in 60 minutes.

I see Marquette losing a game to a team that already beat the team that’s coming up next on MU’s schedule. That doesn’t exactly instill confidence in the chances that the Golden Eagles can get to .500 before they return home from this West Coast swing.

It all just looks incredibly frustrating.

Marquette was led by two freshmen on this particular day. Elise Smigiel and Meg Bireley both came off the bench for the Golden Eagles to record three points each.. Smigiel got there on a hat trick, while Bireley had a two goals and an assist.

Ellie Henry had a great ball control game against the Aztecs. She had seven draw controls, two behind Josie Kropp for the team lead but still more than any San Diego State player, and Henry knocked free three caused turnovers along the way, too.

With Marquette winning the draw control battle 21-13 but then coughing up 22 turnovers, it’s hard to say this loss lands on goalie Amanda Rumsey at all. The grad transfer from Butler went the distance here, making 14 saves including five in the third quarter to try to keep the Golden Eagles in fighting shape.

Up Next: Marquette will be back in action on Sunday. It’ll be a 2pm Central time start, which means noon Pacific, as they’ll be visiting Oregon. The Ducks are 1-5 on the year including that loss to San Diego State. Their most recent game was a 21-5 loss to #17 USC on Sunday to hand them a fifth straight defeat, and they’ll be hosting #25 Colorado before Marquette takes to the field in Eugene.