The Bobby O’Grady Show: Marquette 13, Detroit Mercy 7

Saturday started off with bad news for Marquette men’s lacrosse. The Golden Eagles would be playing without three starters — Devon Cowan, Russell Melendez, and Zach Granger — due to injuries, and even worse, all three are being referred to by the team as “out indefinitely.” That’s not ideal.

You know what is ideal? Freshman attacker Bobby O’Grady not just scoring four goals to lead the team in goals and points against Detroit Mercy, but scoring three consecutive goals in the second quarter. The Massachusetts native nearly single handedly turned a 3-3 game into an 8-3 Marquette lead and jumpstarted a 7-0 Marquette run that carried the Golden Eagles all the way through to the 13-7 win over Detroit Mercy. The win moves Marquette to 2-3 on the year and 2-0 against teams not earning Inside Lacrosse top 20 votes at the time of the game.

The first quarter of the game looks like a standard issue feeling each other out type of quarter since it was tied at three goals each when it was over. But the underlying stats don’t quite bear that out as the Golden Eagles outshot the Titans 14-5 through the first 15 minutes. From a certain point of view, UDM was lucky to be tied with the Golden Eagles, particularly since Jakob Hemme made three saves in the first period to keep the game level.

Whatever luck component that existed ran out right as the first quarter ended as UDM’s Kyle Loken took a cross-checking penalty with one second remaining. 57 seconds into the second, and 58 seconds into the 60 second penalty, O’Grady made his presence felt for the first time as scored to put Marquette up 4-3. That was followed along with a goal from Pierce Washburn just over a minute later as Washburn broke up what would turn into O’Grady’s goal streak, but he also drew an illegal checking penalty that set the Titans back again.

That didn’t actually turn into a goal, and it took a minute for the Marquette engine to start spooling again. A save by MU’s Michael Allieri got the Golden Eagles going in transition, and defenseman — yep, out on the break — Mason Woodward dished with his pole to O’Grady for the ankle high shot and the 6-3 lead.

And then this one, just 37 seconds later, through traffic, with one hand. Wait for the sideline angle replay.

He also picked up the penalty call for unnecessary roughness at the end there, which is neat. Officially, that didn’t turn into a goal for Marquette, though..... because it took O’Grady 70 seconds to score again, so the goal was 10 seconds after the penalty expired.

You’ll have to forgive the MU social team for getting over-excited and forgetting about Washburn’s goal in there given what O’Grady was currently doing to poor Jakob Hemme.

Anyway, 8-3 Marquette, and there was still just under seven minutes left in the half, and Hemme’s afternoon was about to get worse.

I guess the good news is that this one doesn’t count against his save percentage since he wasn’t actually in the cage for it?

Less than two minutes later, Will Foster scored his second straight goal, and yet again, he made Hemme look kind of bad doing it.

Gotta recover to the crease faster than that, my guy.

10-3 Marquette now, 2:49 left in the second quarter, and that lead stood up through til halftime. Shots in the second? 16-7 favoring the Golden Eagles, and they were 30-12 in the game through 30 minutes.

Marquette had just one goal in the third quarter, a get up and go FOGO goal from Luke Williams, but Allieri made three of his six saves in the period while the Titans flipped in three goals along the way. 11-6 Marquette after three, and at that point, you’re just gliding the plane in. Foster wrapped up his hat trick just over three minutes into the final frame, fighting through traffic to get the shot off, and the Golden Eagles held UDM without a goal until almost the five minute mark. At that point, the Titans were just out of time, and Hayden Miller’s first career goal with just under three minutes left was just an exclamation point on the day.

Obviously O’Grady’s four goals led the day for Marquette, topping the chart in both points and goals. Foster’s three markers had him one step back and in a tie with Washburn’s two goals and a helper in points. Mason Woodward was a vacuum cleaner out in front of Allieri on the defensive end, coming up with six ground balls to lead the way with defending partner Zach Granger down for the day, and Noah Verlinde made the most of his start in Granger’s place with two caused turnovers. Allieri finished with six saves on 13 shots on goal, and he had to be on his toes in the second half as UDM actually outshot Marquette 26-16 after intermission.

How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com?

Up Next: The Golden Eagles go back to Saturdays only for a while after this two game week. Next up is a home date on March 12th against Drexel. The Dragons are 2-2 on the season after opening the year with back-to-back losses. They won at LIU on Saturday, 10-8, and they’ll host Saint Joseph’s in a crosstown contest on Tuesday before coming to Milwaukee.