Marquette Women’s Lacrosse Takes Care Of Business Against Eastern Michigan

Marquette women’s lacrosse’s mystery box game in Ypsilanti seems to have gone pretty well. Your final, from a 10am start that didn’t get streamed anywhere, so no one outside of Michigan got to see it: Marquette 18, Eastern Michigan 5. Marquette is now 8-1 on the season, extending the best start in program history.

It took Marquette a minute, five really, to get started on Friday morning, but eventually they got their scoring legs underneath them. Shea Garcia started things off with 10:30 left in the first quarter, and 90 seconds later it was 3-0 Golden Eagles. With just under seven minutes to go, Lydia Foust scored one of her two goals of the day to make it 4-0 Marquette. I don’t want to say that the game was officially over at this point, but reading over this box score, uh, certainly seems that way. Meg Bireley’s score with seven seconds left in the first made it 6-2 favoring the Golden Eagles. Shots at the end of the first 15 minutes: Marquette 13, Eastern Michigan 4.

If the game wasn’t officially over at that point, the end definitely came in the second quarter. Shots in the second: Marquette 12, EMU 0. The big flurry was from 12:41, when Foust scored on the power play to make it 8-2…. And then with 10:28 to go, Tess Osburn scored her lone goal of the game to make it 12-2. That’s a five goal run in just over two minutes. Not only is that a devastating run for Marquette, but the Golden Eagles scored on five of the six shots that they took AND Osburn’s goal activated the running clock for, as it would turn out, the rest of the game. The closest that the EMU Eagles got to the Golden Eagles in the second half was 11, as Emma Soccodato’s goal to start the scoring after intermission put Marquette up 15-2.

The goal output in the second half — 4 for Marquette, 3 for Eastern Michigan — certainly makes it look like Marquette took their foot of the gas, but the shots situation tells a different story. 14-4 after halftime favoring Marquette, with EMU taking their final shot of the game with 11:40 to play as they scored their only goal of the fourth quarter. And this is with Marquette going deep into their bench based on what the box score and PBP is telling us who was doing what! Shouts to MU’s second (third?) unit for holding up the standard as well as making life easy for Ava Sprinkel who relieved starting goalie Brynna Nixon at halftime.

Mary Schumar still fit in a big points day, getting to six on two goals and four assists, and Meg Bireley was right behind her with four goals and a helper. Emma Soccodato had a great across the board game, scoring four times, scooping up four ground balls, forcing three turnovers (while not committing a single one herself!), and snaring three draw controls, too.

Up Next: Marquette returns to action on Sunday morning as they head westward to face Central Michigan. The Chippewas are 2-5 on the year and led by former Marquette assistant coach Emilia Ward.