Are you ready for another season of Marquette women’s lacrosse?

We’re getting closer and closer, so it’s time to do some season previewing. We’ve already gone through the familiar faces coming back from last season, so go check that out if you haven’t seen it yet. Here we’re going to talk about the newcomers to the team, and yes, we have to say newcomers because head coach Meredith Black does have one transfer amongst her nine first year players on the roster this season.

It could be interesting to see if/how any of these women fit into the rotation right away as the Golden Eagles certainly do look like they bring back notable players at every spot on the field from last season. We’ll get into it as we go, so let’s just jump right in, shall we?

Normally I start with the offense and move back towards MU’s net, but we’ve got an interesting situation going on with the goalies this year, so let’s start there......

GOALIE

Marquette has just one new goalie on the roster this season, and that’s Ava Sprinkel. The 5’5” Maryland native was a two year letter winner in high school, and her team went 30-6 in her last two years at McDonogh School, including a stretch at #1 in the country during her junior campaign. That’s pretty neat! It would be even neater if her official Marquette bio provided even the slightest clue about the stats that Sprinkel posted during those seasons. It’s not in there, which makes me wonder things about whether Sprinkel can compete with Brynna Nixon for the starting netminder job.

That’s the mystery here. As we talked about in the returning players article, there’s reasons to believe, statistically speaking, that Nixon can be the kind of netminder that Marquette needs. There’s also evidence to suggest the contrary, and since MU had a massively productive offense last season, it stands to reason that the defense has to be the side of the field that picks it up this year. With that in mind, if Nixon can’t go or isn’t getting it done, Sprinkel is the only other option on the roster.

For whatever it’s worth to you, head coach Meredith Black told the Marquette Wire recently that she doesn’t know who’s going to get the start in the opener against San Diego State.

DEFENSE

We start the discussion here with MU’s lone inbound transfer this season. Claire Conway (#32, 5’6”) comes to Marquette after four seasons at Detroit Mercy. She started in all but two of the 50 games that she appeared in for the Titans, and those were the first two games of her collegiate career. Across the span of her time in Michigan, Conway averaged just over a ground ball per game and roughly a caused turnover every other game. In 2022, she earned all-MAC Second Team honors and was UDM’s top defender. Obviously, since she’s here for her bonus season of eligibility, you’d expect to see her get right into the thick of things.

With that in mind, Marquette brings back two women on the defensive end who started all 18 games last season and another pair who played in all 18 and started 16 times. It’s not a bad thing for MU to have depth, so we’ll see how Meredith Black handles her defenders this season.

There are two freshman options in the depth pool as well. Sofia Santana (#24, 5’8”) and Maeve Dooley (#25, 5’8”) are just one number off on the numerical roster, and both come in with deep pedigrees from their prep careers. Santana hails from Florida, where she was team captain all four years of high school, and had an unbelievable senior year, particularly for someone who’s coming to college to play defense. Check this out: A team high 54 goals, 13 assists, 47 ground balls, and 28 draw controls. That’s wild! She’s also pretty tough minded, as Santana already has a first degree black belt in tae kwon do. Dooley comes to Marquette from Loyola Academy down in the Chicago area, and was a national All-American has a senior. She was all over the field for Loyola, putting up eight goals, 14 assists, 29 ground balls, 27 caused turnovers, and 44 draw controls as a senior. She was a part of four straight conference and regional titles, plus a state title in 2021, so that’s pretty neat. Does any of this help either Santana or Dooley get playing time this season? Well, we know that Marquette needs to be better on defense this season, so if they’re a better option than the returning experienced players, then yeah, it’s going to help.

MIDFIELD

The Golden Eagles have a trio of freshman midfielders who had big time success with their high school teams. I am most immediately curious about the impact that Isabelle Casucci (#9, 6’2”) can have on the team on the field. Let’s be honest about it: One of the best players in MU history so far has been a big midfielder in Allison Lane. Casucci brings size to the roster, and that kind of size is sometimes hard to find in the lacrosse world. She wrapped up her career at St. Joseph in Connecticut with over 150 goals, 100 assists, and 100 draw controls, so Casucci has shown an ability to make an impact all over the field. She’s been a part of winners as well, chipping in to two state runner up teams in 2019 and 2022.

Does it help Marquette to have two new midfielders who already know each other? Sayla Lotysz (#16, 5’6”) and Taylor Kotschevar (#23, 5’6”) both hail from Minnesota and both played for Minnesota Elite on the club circuit. Lotysz got the opportunity to earn six high school letters, and wrapped up her high school career with 172 goals, 95 assists, 133 ground balls, and 254 draw controls. She was an all-state performer in her junior and senior seasons and picked up an All-American honor as a senior. Kotschevar wasn’t quite the scorer that her club teammate was, but also she “only” earned four high school letters, so that might have had an impact on the raw totals. Still, 122 goals, 33 assists, 68 ground balls, 52 caused turnovers, and 194 draw controls is nothing to sneeze at, which is why she, like Lotysz, was a two-time all-state honoree and a senior year All-American. Marquette is deep all over the field, so it remains to be seen if these decorated prep careers translate to immediate playing time, but having depth with potential behind your known quantities is never a bad thing if you’re the head coach.

ATTACK

Marquette has big time players returning on offense, but with four attackers staying on the field at all times, it’s possible that someone could make an impact and crack into the rotation. Based on info available from GoMarquette.com official team bios, it seems like the most likely candidate there is Tess Osburn (#1, 5’6”). Hailing from Colorado, she was a four-time all-state performer in high school while playing for a team that made it to the state title game twice. Osburn led her team in goals in her freshman campaign, which was the first time that Valor Christian High School had ever reached the state semifinals, and then she followed that up by leading the team in points as a junior.

Unfortunately, Adrianna Commodari (#44, 5’4”) doesn’t have a lot of details about her prep career in her official team bio, and that always makes my eye twitch when we’re talking about an offensive player. With that said, if you’re a four year high school letter winner in lacrosse at a Maryland high school with a name like “Maryvale Preparatory School,” you’re probably pretty good and maybe just not the star of the team because you’re coming from a lacrosse hot bed. Commodari spread out her athletic activities in high school, participating in field hockey, swimming, and track, so there’s a strong sign of a well developed athlete there.