Anonymous Eagle - The 2023 Marquette Men’s Lacrosse Season Preview!Your home for coverage of Wisconsin's elite college athletics.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46843/anon-fave.png2023-02-03T11:00:00-06:00http://www.anonymouseagle.com/rss/stream/232901772023-02-03T11:00:00-06:002023-02-03T11:00:00-06:00MLax Preview: vs Lindenwood
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<figcaption>Lindenwood Lions, get it | Photo by RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Golden Eagles open up 2023 by hosting a team making their Division 1 debut.</p> <p id="Hwdeyo">It is once again time for <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> men’s lacrosse.</p>
<p id="doIgCT">The Golden Eagles start off the 11th season of lacrosse in Milwaukee on Saturday, and what better day to do it than on National Marquette Day??!? Marquette will be looking to improve on last year’s 4-11 record that included a 2-3 mark in Big East play. That was good enough to get Marquette into the four team Big East tournament, but that led to a 15-5 loss to Georgetown to end the 2022 campaign.</p>
<p id="U6uPqj">If you haven’t dug deep on the Golden Eagles yet this season, I highly recommend <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/12/25/23526136/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-season-preview-big-east">our season preview series</a>, not to mention the official <a href="http://GoMarquette.com">GoMarquette.com</a> previews for the <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2023/1/25/mens-lacrosse-2023-marquette-lacrosse-offensive-preview">offensive</a> and <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2023/1/28/mens-lacrosse-2023-marquette-lacrosse-defensive-preview">defensive</a> units. The big takeaways from all of it is Marquette is returning a lot of guys who played notable roles last season on both offense and defense. There is, however, a catch to that.</p>
<p id="PWF2hh">The catch is that a lot of guys played pretty notable roles on the team last season because Marquette had <em>a lot</em> of injuries. There was a constant flow of guys in and out of the lineup on both sides of the ball, and I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the uncertainty as to who was going to be playing from week to week contributed to that 4-11 record. If nothing else, MU’s inability to build continuity and familiarity within a unit on the field was a major problem for the squad in 2022.</p>
<p id="WaKi5Y">If Marquette can find continuity in their lineup this season, the ceiling is incredibly high. Sophomore Bobby O’Grady is already one of the best scorers in program (yes, program) history and fellow attackman Devon Cown ain’t too bad himself. Mason Woodward has been one of the best defenders in the Big East almost from the moment that he stepped onto campus, and fellow close defender Zach Granger has been a stalwart on that end of the field for several seasons. Michael Allieri returns in net after starting every game at goalie last season for Marquette, and the Golden Eagles appear to have multiple options to take faceoffs this season.</p>
<p id="elnNMZ">Can all of this translate into a winning record this year? One game at a time....</p>
<h3 id="JxO5wi">Game #1: vs Lindenwood Lions (0-0)</h3>
<p id="x68iHS"><strong>Date: </strong>Saturday, February 4, 2023<br><strong>Time: </strong>11am Central<br><strong>Location: </strong>Andy Glockner Memorial Bubble, Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin<br><strong>Streaming:</strong> <a href="https://www.flolive.tv/teams/6974105-marquette-mens-lacrosse?view=live-and-upcoming&utm_campaign=bigeast&utm_medium=partner&utm_source=teams&utm_content=teams&utm_term=marquette-mlax&rtid=&coverage_id=&sp=conf-partner">FloSports</a>, with Matt Menzl on the call<br><strong>Live Stats:</strong> <a href="https://gomarquette.com/sidearmstats/mlax/summary">Sidearm Stats</a><br><strong>Twitter Updates:</strong> <a href="http://twitter.com/MarquetteMLax">@MarquetteMLax</a> </p>
<p id="Z5ifpl">This is the first ever meeting between Marquette and Lindenwood. That’s because this is Lindenwood’s first ever Division 1 game. The Lions made their NCAA debut in Division 2 in 2012, and are coming off a 12-4 season, their fourth straight full season with at least 10 wins, where they won a conference tournament championship and qualified for the NCAA tournament.</p>
<p id="F3cJ13">This year is different, and they are picked to finish ninth in the 10 team ASun conference. To be clear, this means that Lindenwood was picked to finish in front of fellow D1 debutante Queens. They have lost their leading scorer from last season, but #2 points man Cam Smith returns after posting 27 goals and a team high 25 assists last season. Unfortunately, Smith is the only one of the top five guys in the points column coming back for 2023, with Adrian Thompson’s 25 points on 12 goals and 13 assists coming in as the second best returning offensive option for the Lions.</p>
<p id="DSzqeh">Lindenwood also returns just three of the nine men who had at least 25 ground balls last season, which probably isn’t ideal relative to the idea of team continuity and chemistry while jumping up to Division 1. One of the three is faceoff man Jony Major, who won just over 50% of his draws last season. Another one in the trio is defender Brian Kallberg who had 25 ground balls to go with his team high 27 caused turnovers last season. </p>
<p id="j7Tk8h">The Lions are also looking at replacing goalie Kyle Hebert, who played over 800 minutes last season, posting a goals-against average of 7.88 and stopping 58% of shots on cage. That’s some pretty good netminding that they’re losing, and Blake Nolan is the top returning option based on last year. Nolan started two games and played in two more for a total of 97 minutes in 2022. His stats in that time are solid: 9.90 goals-against average and 48% save percentage. Is he ready to face Division 1 offenses or will 10th year head coach Jim Lange be looking at one of the other four goalies on the roster to backstop the defense?</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/2/3/23582199/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-preview-lindenwood-lionsBrewtown Andy2023-02-01T13:30:00-06:002023-02-01T13:30:00-06:00MLax Season Preview: 3 Questions
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<img alt="Bobby O’Grady" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dd4hf9iMJ4eG16bV7c200Cj7FFI=/0x0:5181x3454/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71930571/Bobby_O_Grady.0.jpeg" />
<figcaption>Maybe the better question is what <em>can’t</em> Bobby O’Grady do for Marquette this spring? | Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>What are the biggest unknowns for the Golden Eagles and head coach Andrew Stimmel for this spring?</p> <p id="tdeL3E">Are you ready for lacrosse yet? Of course not, we’re not done doing season previewing for <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> men’s lacrosse! We’ve already done a rundown on <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/26/23529972/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-season-preview-returning-players-ogrady-woodward-allieri">the guys returning from last season</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/31/23550261/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-season-preview-transfers-freshmen">all the new faces on the roster</a>. Go check those out if you haven’t already, as they’re pretty crucial to all of this season previewing.</p>
<p id="KDetra">Here, we’re going to ask three big questions about this upcoming season. Are there bigger questions facing the Golden Eagles? Maybe, but these are the ones that jumped out at me, and if you’ve got questions rumbling around in your head, fire them up in the comments and we’ll try to hack around through them.</p>
<p id="Bphq3R">Let’s go!</p>
<h1 id="9r5xdI">QUESTION #1: What will Bobby O’Grady do for an encore?</h1>
<p id="og01Fu">Last year, as a freshman, Bobby O’Grady broke the single season goals record. He didn’t break it by a little. He became the second Marquette player to ever record 37 goals and then the second to ever record 40, tying Ryan McNamara’s record..... and then he just kept on going to a new single season record of 45. To put this in proper perspective: O’Grady added five assists to his goal total to post just the fourth 50 point season in Marquette history. O’Grady is the only player in program history to ever average a hat trick per game for an entire season. Bobby O’Grady’s 45 goals in his freshman season are currently tied with Connor McClelland for the eighth most goals <em>in a Marquette career.</em> He has the third most man-up goals <em>in a Marquette career.</em> He is in a six-way tie for the fourth most game-winning goals <em>in a Marquette career.</em> O’Grady is 50 points away from putting together the fourth 100 point Marquette career, and this is will be his second season. He is 55 goals away from being the second MU player to ever reach 100 career goals.</p>
<p id="Z1QXFb">Do you get it? Are you picking up what I’m putting down? The Massachusetts native is already re-writing our expectations for what is possible. What’s next? The first 50 goal season? The first 60 point season? Will having a consistent supporting cast around him (more on this in a minute) help O’Grady put up even more goals and points in 2023 because there’s just going to be a better continuity and familiarity amongst the attacking group?</p>
<p id="We5qIE">Is there a ceiling as to what’s possible for Bobby O’Grady in 2023?</p>
<h1 id="bfnh82">QUESTION #2: Can Andrew Stimmel finally get a normal season?</h1>
<p id="qvgkJG">Just one? Just one normal, boring, we have practice, we have a game, we wash the uniforms, we get on and off the bus, nothing interesting happens season?</p>
<p id="Two3Eu">Andrew Stimmel was announced as the second head coach in Marquette men’s lacrosse history on June 14, 2019. Almost exactly nine months later, his first season in charge was ended after seven games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Year 2 was the “we’re just going to play a bunch of Big East games this year because we can all agree on the protocols that the league hands down” season, which led to the Golden Eagles playing one of the hardest schedules in Division 1 that season and almost assuredly in program history all while navigating trying to figure out how to get a lacrosse team to practice regularly as COVID vaccines were slowly rolling out. </p>
<p id="Ob6kdw">It looked like Year 3, the 2022 campaign, was going to be a normal boring year for Stimmel to finally get his boots set...... and then he had just 11 players appear in all 15 games. Offense, defense, midfield, whatever, whoever, the Golden Eagles were beset by injuries almost from the word Go last spring. So now we’re here, the start of Year 4. Stimmel is 11-23 as Marquette’s head coach, partly because he had a first year team that needed a bunch of freshmen to play, partly because he played ranked team after ranked team in his second year, and partly because he couldn’t field a consistent lineup from game to game in his third year.</p>
<p id="4UFFoK">Can we just get some lacrosse here? Just 14 regular season games worth of running back and forth on the field, maybe some postseason action to add some spice to life? Nothing crazy? Please? For Coach Stimmel at least, and if not for him, then at least for his poor overworked meditation app?</p>
<h1 id="l1NMO6">QUESTION #3: What is the definition of success for this year’s team?</h1>
<p id="hxRxvx">Last year, All-American defender Mason Woodward said that the goal for the team was to win the Big East tournament and then win a game in the NCAA tournament. They fell short of that mark, posting a record of 4-11.</p>
<p id="wlzOtc">That sounds like it was not a success. It obviously didn’t live up to Woodward’s goals for the year, but also it wasn’t that far away from it. Through all the injuries and lineup changes, two of Marquette’s four wins a year ago came in Big East play, and that was enough to get them into the conference tournament as the fourth and final team to qualify.</p>
<p id="HmytFD">With that in mind, we can’t say “making the Big East tournament is a successful season.” No one thinks going 4-11 with a record of 2-3 in the league is a success. I think it’s reasonable that MU could go 2-3 in the Big East again this year, but still make the conference tournament. Don’t get me wrong: Making the conference tournament has to be a Must Accomplish item for the Golden Eagles, because they are hosting the tournament this spring. It would be really bad for the league if Marquette misses the field.</p>
<p id="1FfhDU">This schedule is also kind of unforgiving, at least in the eyes of the <a href="https://www.insidelacrosse.com/league/DI/polls">Inside Lacrosse media poll</a>. Marquette will play three of the top five teams in the country in the preseason poll — Georgetown, Cornell, and <a href="https://www.onefootdown.com">Notre Dame</a> — and Denver’s kicking around in the preseason top 20 as well. Michigan, Utah, and <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a> are all receiving votes in the preseason poll and could easily be ranked by the time that Marquette gets around to playing any of them. </p>
<p id="i95CcJ">That’s literally half of Marquette’s schedule right there.</p>
<p id="U1mICH">Is merely finishing with a winning record — aka defeating at least one of the seven teams I just rattled off and running the table against everyone else — the definition for this season? Given how Stimmel’s first three years have gone, it certainly feels like that could be the case.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/2/1/23580186/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-season-preview-questions-big-east-ogrady-stimmelBrewtown Andy2023-01-31T10:30:00-06:002023-01-31T10:30:00-06:00MLax Season Preview: The Newcomers
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<img alt="Marquette Men’s Lacrosse head coach Andrew Stimmel" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5weDqvp2Vc0N1cu9kkRgbvlyC3c=/0x0:3744x2496/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71925504/Andrew_Stimmel.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Head coach Andrew Stimmel seems to be having fun at practice. | Mike Wittliff/Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>Six transfers headline the slate of new faces on the roster this spring for head coach Andrew Stimmel.</p> <p id="hHCuTU">We’re less than a week away from the start of the 2023 season for <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> men’s lacrosse!</p>
<p id="LdYjXn">Last week, we got started on our season previewing by <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/e/23294013">talking about all the returning faces on the roster this spring</a>. This time around, we’re going to take a look at the 17 new guys on the roster, which includes the addition of six transfers from all over the world of college lacrosse. Given that the transfers touch all portions of the lineup, we’re going to go about this in the same order that we did for the returning guys: Position by position, starting with attack and working our way backwards to goalkeeper.</p>
<p id="5WV5km">Let’s get right to it!</p>
<h1 id="dZZ5C7">ATTACK</h1>
<p id="WfhAGr">If we’ve got a transfer in the group, that’s probably the best place to start. After all, there’s a reason why they wanted to pick Marquette as their new landing spot and there’s a reason why the coaching staff wanted to add an experienced hand to the position. That brings us to <strong>Jackson Rose</strong> (#66, 6’1”, 200 lbs.), who comes to MU after playing for four seasons at St. Bonaventure. He appeared in 42 games with the Bonnies and made 30 starts but didn’t turn into a major scoring threat for them until last season. As a senior, he put up 40 goals in 15 games, and added three assists, 22 ground balls, and two caused turnovers. That was good enough for Second Team All-MAAC honors. Two of MU’s attack starting spots are seemingly occupied with Bobby O’Grady and Devon Cowan, so it will be interesting to see how exactly Rose fits in for his COVID bonus season of eligibility.</p>
<p id="WaZzPt">There are three freshman attackers on the roster as well. With the glut of returning guys that showed promise of playing a notable role last season (albeit due to a cascading series of injuries), I don’t know how close any of these three are to seeing the field regularly. I’m leaning towards <strong>Connor Gorman</strong> (#17, 6’4”, 205 lbs) as the most likely candidate just because he’s got the most interesting statistics in his official Marquette bio. He set the Don Bosco HS single season record for goals with 57, presumably as a senior, and this was after he put up 59 goals and 31 assists in his first two years playing varsity lacrosse. Along the way he was a two-time US Lacrosse All-American, and that all sounds very fancy and important.</p>
<p id="6fT9Tr"><strong>Andrew Bowman</strong> (#9, 6’1”, 175 lbs.) played for six years on his high school team, and if you’re doing the math on that, the fact that he’s from British Columbia in Canada might help make that make some more sense. He had 18 goals and 25 assists in his final season and spent some time with the BC provincial team for the Canadian national championships. <strong>Jacob Nottoli</strong> (#39, 5’7”, 160 lbs.) started every single game of his high school career…. But weirdly his official MU bio only mentions that and does not provide any kind of notification of what his scoring numbers were. Feels like they should be kind of interesting if he was a freshman starter, y’know? Nottoli also lettered for three years in track and field, although his bio doesn’t make it clear which events he was in. I’m going to guess sprints, just because his body type doesn’t quite led itself to what you’d normally think of as a very good shot put guy.</p>
<h1 id="XemT2X">MIDFIELD</h1>
<p id="flgJvD">There are four midfield transfers this spring and three freshmen. <strong>Nate Surd</strong> (#6, 6’1”, 205 lbs.) might be the most intriguing of the transfers after spending two years at Harford Community College just outside Baltimore. In 22 games with the Fighting Owls, he put up 50 goals and 25 assists. Last season, Harford went 10-2 with their second loss coming in the NJCAA national championship tournament, and Surd had 29 goals and 20 assists in just 12 games. Does that translate immediately to Division 1 and the Big East?</p>
<p id="vFgPN5"><strong>Matthew Winegardner</strong> (#3, 6’0”, 195 lbs.) spent the last two years at Mercer, and he earned Second Team All-Southern Conference honors after putting up 16 goals and nine assists in 15 games. 2022 was the only season where he made a big impact on the team, so we’ll see what he has in store for MU in 2023. <strong>Blake Lori</strong> (#7, 5’11”, 175 lbs.) is the younger brother of MU assistant coach Bo Lori, and he comes over to the Golden Eagles after three seasons at Robert Morris. Lori had 31 appearances for the Colonials in that time, posting his most interesting year last season with a goal and an assist, but he also had six ground balls and eight caused turnovers. This sets up Lori as a potential short stick defensive midfielder more than anything else, but with potential to generate points in transition as well. Finally, there’s <strong>Jadyn Castillo</strong> (#34, 6’3”, 190 lbs.), who was at CCBC Essex in Maryland in the junior college ranks for the past two seasons. He didn’t have much in the way of statistical production, but he did play in 12 of 13 games as the Knights went 8-5, recording five goals, seven assists, and 10 ground balls. Does that mean he’s more of a SSDM with ability to score in transition? Does that mean he’s a good offensive player who just wasn’t asked to take shots?</p>
<p id="1qPzo6">That moves us along to the freshmen. <strong>Charlie Reynolds</strong> (#37, 5’11”, 175 lbs.) is the guy that jumps off the page here, putting up 66 goals, 37 assists, and 28 ground balls in 20 games as a senior in high school in Virginia. He earned US Lacrosse All-American Honors and Washington Post Second Team All-Met honors, too, and that seems pretty neat. If he’s a more offensive minded middie, that does raise questions of if there’s a spot in the lineup for him relative to the depth of attackers that MU developed last year. <strong>Peter Detwiler</strong> (#32, 6’0”, 195 lbs.) has “An Under Armour Command and Highlight All-American” in his official MU bio, and that sounds pretty good even if I don’t know exactly what that means. He was also an all area wide receiver/cornerback for his high school’s football team just down the road from <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a>’s campus. The guy that might be the best of the freshmen is <strong>Jake Bair</strong> (#99, 6’2”, 200 lbs.) even though his official team bio is maybe the least interesting. He was the best midfielder on his high school team in Maryland for two years straight.... but that probably should be the case if you’re going to play Division 1 lacrosse, honestly. The reason why Bair might be the best of the trio is because <a href="https://www.insidelacrosse.com/recruiting/commitments?class=2022&league=1">he’s one of just two four-star prospects coming in this year according to Inside Lacrosse</a>.</p>
<h1 id="h6qVnZ">DEFENSE</h1>
<p id="ejG1Rt">Marquette brings in three freshmen to the defensive corps this season. Given MU’s options on that end of the field, I’ll be surprised to see any of them get a lot of playing time this season, but the flip side of that is that these guys are going to need to absorb a lot of information now and step in and play big minutes in the not distant future.</p>
<p id="tDx3WM">As can sometimes happen with defensive players, their official MU bios are not particularly helpful in letting us know who might be leaning more towards an immediate impact player. I’m going to guess that <strong>Mike Piraino</strong> (#8, 5’9”, 170 lbs.) is the leader in that department, but I’m just throwing that out there because his bio says he led his team in ground balls and caused turnovers as a senior while earning all-county honors out on Long Island. I’d say there’s questions about his size on the defensive end, but hey, BJ Grill is one of the best defensive players in MU history and he’s not a giant.</p>
<p id="4CYoga"><strong>PJ McColgan</strong> (#19, 5’11”, 180 lbs.) and <strong>Calvin Hicks</strong> (#48, 6’3”, 200 lbs.) are the other two freshmen in this department. I don’t have anything particularly notable to point out about McColgan, but I do like knowing that Hicks was a four year varsity letterman in ice hockey in the Albany area. 1) A 6’3”, 200 pound high school hockey player sounds terrifying to play against and 2) it indicates that Hicks might have really great footwork and balance for a college lacrosse player.</p>
<h1 id="XkDYzH">FACEOFFS</h1>
<p id="3sa8Q2">The Golden Eagles have two new guys who could push Luke Williams and Cole Emmanuel in the faceoff department this season. Worst case scenario, it’s good to have lots of options just in case one particular guy just can’t get it going in any particular game. <strong>Grant Evans</strong> (#50, 5’10”, 205 lbs.) comes to Marquette after four years at Division 3 Grove City College in western Pennsylvania. He led D3 in faceoff winning percentage as a freshman, finished with a career mark of .762, and won between 66% and 80% of his faceoffs in all of his four years. In 54 appearances for GCC, Evans posted 38 goals and 32 assists in his career there. If he’s a “win it to yourself and throw it in” kind of faceoff guy <em>and</em> that translates to Division 1, that’s a dangerous kind of weapon to have at your disposal.</p>
<p id="JtvJnI"><strong>Adam Slager</strong> (#31, 5’8”, 165 lbs.) is a freshman from Stoughton out in the Madison area. He was a First Team all-state honoree as a senior and his career stats at Stoughton High go like this: 80 goals, 81 assists, two-time US Lacrosse All-American. That’s neat. He won 78% of his draws as a freshman and 91% as a junior according to his MU bio, and uh, I think that’s a lot. If he can handle the jump up to Division 1 and even just win 55% of his draws, he could find himself getting more than few attempts per game. With that said, between Williams and Emmanuel returning and Evans in Milwaukee for just one season, it feels like this might be a “hey, get some reps in the weight room” kind of year for Slager.</p>
<h1 id="booDKu">GOALKEEPER</h1>
<p id="MIBGOR">There’s just one new netminder on the roster this season, but <strong>Lucas Lawas</strong> (#45, 5’8”, 165 lbs.) is still pretty notable. He is the aforementioned second four-star Inside Lacrosse prospect in the group of freshmen this season, so we can’t rule out Lawas getting into a position battle with Michael Allieri. Lawas was also originally committed to play at Johns Hopkins, but IL notes that as confirmed in late 2020. IL also points out that Lawas reclassified from Class of 2023 (aka next year) to Class of 2022, so it seems possible that information is somehow related to his decoupling from JHU. The western New Yorker attended a Canadian prep school just outside of Toronto, so put it all together and you have one heck of an interesting ride over the past two-plus years for Lawas. </p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/31/23550261/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-season-preview-transfers-freshmenBrewtown Andy2023-01-26T09:15:00-06:002023-01-26T09:15:00-06:002023 MLax Season Preview: The Returning Players
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<img alt="Michael Allieri" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d3EouAsnchKcLs66iRIpsDA-R9g=/0x2:5181x3456/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71908314/Michael_Allieri.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Seems likely that Michael Allieri will be MU’s primary net minder again in 2023. | Kylie Bridenhagen/Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>We know head coach Andrew Stimmel has a bunch of experience coming back from last season. Can they stay healthy in 2023?</p> <p id="G9sEJG">DID YOU KNOW?</p>
<p id="PmLUbc">The <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> men’s lacrosse season starts NEXT SATURDAY!</p>
<p id="CfEPaJ">That’s right, the 2023 campaign kicks off on Saturday afternoon at Valley Fields with a home date against Lindenwood as the Lions make their Division 1 debut. We’ll dig into that game a little bit more as Saturday draws closer, but for now we have to do some season previewing. Here we’re going to talk about the returning players from the 2022 roster, what they did last year, and what we can expect from them this year. As we get closer to Saturday, we’ll take a look at the new faces on the roster, and try to pick out three big questions for head coach Andrew Stimmel and his team for this season.</p>
<p id="Jwchzx">Okay, we’ve got A TON of guys to get through, which may or may not be great news for the Golden Eagles this spring. Let’s dive in!</p>
<h1 id="YVGlmU">ATTACK</h1>
<p id="9RfV5l">This conversation starts with, or more accurately, has to start with <strong>Bobby O’Grady</strong>. The sophomore from Massachusetts exploded onto the scene in a big way last season, scoring four goals in his collegiate debut, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/2/13/22930951/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-recap-bellarmine-knights-ogrady">including the triple overtime game winner against Bellarmine</a>. By season’s end, O’Grady had assembled <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/5/28/23144307/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-single-season-points-record-top-10">the fourth 50 point season in program history</a> and <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/5/31/23145835/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-single-season-goals-record-top-10">broke Ryan McNamara’s record for goals in a season</a>. He is a one man rocket booster to an offense, and the goal for the Golden Eagles has to be maximizing what he can do on the field.</p>
<p id="xKfYtV">Item #1 in attempting that maximization? Staying healthy and keeping the same lineup on the field around O’Grady. There are just three guys with A’s next to their names on the roster this season that played in all 15 games a year ago, and O’Grady is one of them. Neither of the other two guys who appeared all 15 games started in all 15 games. <strong>Jake Stegman</strong> started 13 times while putting up 11 goals and 13 assists, while <strong>Luke Blanc</strong> had 16 goals and four assists while starting eight times along the way. <strong>Will Foster</strong> appeared in 14 contests with 12 starts and ended up leading the team in assists as a freshman with 16 while adding 10 goals of his own. </p>
<p id="KdlYug">One of the biggest things that will help the Marquette offense click? A full season of <strong>Devon Cowan</strong>. The senior from New Jersey was limited to just 11 games by way of a wrist injury, and just 10 starts in those 11 games. He still finished the year with 29 points, which is good but also short of the 2.8 points per game average that Cowan has for his career in blue and gold. </p>
<p id="mrRdes">Foster and Cowan aren’t the only examples of guys missing time last year. <strong>Griffin Fries</strong> started all of Marquette’s first seven games, assembling four goals and an assist along the way before suffering a season ending injury. <strong>Nolan Rappis</strong> made his collegiate debut in MU’s opener, didn’t play in the next two games, then made a gigantic impact with a hat trick against Michigan, scored again against Detroit Mercy four days later, then missed the rest of the season. <strong>Justin Mintzer</strong> played in just one of MU’s first eight games, then in all of the next five, putting up a goal and two assists, then didn’t play in the final two contests of the year. Some of these guys were supposed play big roles for Marquette last year, as you can see from Fries starting the first seven games. Some of these guys were pressed into roles they weren’t expecting to play as spots in the lineup suddenly opened up because of injuries. How they all fit in and fit together this year, well, that’s head coach Andrew Stimmel’s job.</p>
<p id="K2XhXT">We’ll mention super senior <strong>Holden Patterson</strong> here, who at one point looked like he was going to be a big time scorer for Marquette with 15 goals in his first 21 games. But things have slowed down for him over the past two years, deploying as a man-up specialist and recording just four points last season. He’s back for his fifth season of eligibility anyway, so we’ll see what that turns into on the field. There’s also <strong>Conor McCabe</strong>, an attackman from Long Island who did not play as a freshman last season. Is there space for him in the lineup this season? Does a healthy top end of the rotation preclude him from playing time? Who can say?</p>
<h1 id="KlKyNV">MIDFIELDERS</h1>
<p id="XtMdm9">As always, figuring out what’s up with MU’s midfielders is a bit of a jumble. Some guys are easy to figure out, like <strong>Chris Kirschner</strong>, who started all 15 games and recorded eight goals and an assist. Some guys are a little harder to figure out, but their 2022 stat lines make sense. <strong>Logan Kreinz</strong> is one of those guys, who appeared in every game and only scored two goals.... but his 25 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers immediately show you that he’s doing great work on the defensive end of the field. Both guys slot right back into their same roles in 2023 at the very least.</p>
<p id="OZbLaF"><strong>UPDATE (1/30): </strong>So, Marquette published <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2023/1/28/mens-lacrosse-2023-marquette-lacrosse-defensive-preview">a team defensive preview</a> on January 28th but didn’t tweet it out until the 30th. The point of the story is I published this on January 26th and in the defensive preview, it says that Kirschner will be switching to short stick defensive midfield this season. So much for “easy to figure out, huh?”</p>
<p id="9om9bO">I think it’s safe to say that we’ll see more of <strong>Pierce Washburn</strong> on a regular basis this season. He played in 14 games and started four times including three in a row in the middle of the season, so that’s a vote of confidence from the coaching staff. He had nine goals and five assists, all scattered across the season. Is that a product of a constantly shuffling attack, or would Washburn benefit from a more consistent set of attackers around him? <strong>Max Kruszeski</strong> is the last 2022 regular I want to highlight, although he doesn’t have much in the way of stats to speak of. The 6-foot New York product scored his second career goal last season and added six ground balls and three caused turnovers. That makes it sound like he had a small role on the team, but he did play in 13 games. His MU bio calls him a two-way midfielder in his freshman year and a defensive midfielder in 2021. What role does he fit in 2023?</p>
<p id="p5inhF"><strong>UPDATE (1/30):</strong> The <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2023/1/28/mens-lacrosse-2023-marquette-lacrosse-defensive-preview">aforementioned official team preview</a> notes that Kruszeski will be starting out the year as the primary short stick defensive middie on the face off unit for Marquette.</p>
<p id="yGI9kV">We’re going to have to wait to see what role awaits for both <strong>Hayden Miller</strong> and <strong>Nolan Garcia</strong>. Both men were freshmen in 2022, and both had limited roles. Miller made his collegiate debut in Marquette’s opener, then got a spot in the starting lineup one week later against Jacksonville. However, he would play just seven more games the rest of the season.... but he still finished with five goals and an assist, all in the last seven games he played. Garcia’s nine appearances last year appear to be more a product of Marquette’s constant injury cycles, as he didn’t debut until March 19th against Robert Morris and he played in every game after that. The younger brother of MU women’s lacrosse attacker Shea Garcia got his first career goal and assist in Marquette’s 23-13 win over St. John’s and added one goal and one assist the rest of the season. It seems like Miller is more set up to play regularly in 2023 as he was in the rotation out of the gate, but sometimes new relationships develop between players on the field and the coaching staff has to take advantage of that when they see them.</p>
<p id="O7AtX8">There’s a four-pack of gents who appeared in uniform in a game for Marquette last season as midfielders but none of them had a notable impact on the campaign. <strong>Gabe Souza</strong> is the most notable one.... with three games played. <strong>Charlie DiGiacomo</strong> and <strong>Tommy Casey</strong> both played in two games, and <strong>Jack Nolan</strong> had just one outing for the Golden Eagles. DiGiacomo, Nolan, and Souza are all in their third year of action with Souza coming over from Jacksonville last season, while Casey was a freshman a year ago.</p>
<h1 id="Jn927J">LONG STICK MIDFIELDERS</h1>
<p id="7AJfFd">This is going to be a quick conversation. Marquette has two LSMs coming back from last year, <strong>Billy Rojack</strong> (who is officially listed as a LSM/Defender combo) and <strong>Kayden Rogers</strong>. Neither man played for the Golden Eagles last season and Rojack is going into his third season with Marquette and hasn’t gotten onto the field yet. </p>
<p id="d1G0Gb">Might something change in 2023 with Anthony Courcelle and Jacob Hallam no longer taking up spots on MU’s defensive side of the field? Maybe, but also both of those guys were short stick players last season. </p>
<h1 id="FumRvd">DEFENDERS</h1>
<p id="1aUxs2">Marquette finds themselves well stocked with experienced defenders from last season. Part of the reason why is that <strong>Zach Granger</strong> missed eight games and <strong>Mason Woodward</strong> missed three. That led to a few other guys getting notable playing time. Both Granger and Woodward return in 2023, so to start the season at least, they appear to be in the driver’s seat for the three full time defensive spots. Woodward in particular is turning into one of the most prolific defenders in Marquette lacrosse history as he is flying up the all time ground ball chart in a hurry. Woodward also led Marquette in caused turnovers last season even with his missed time.</p>
<p id="gtwSOX"><strong>David Lamarca</strong> and <strong>Noah Verlinde</strong> both played in all 15 games last season with both men starting nine times each. This is where we get into questions of how the coaching staff will organize their defensive unit as there are only three defenders that stay on the field the whole time. If Granger and Woodward get spots #1 and #2.... then it’s either Lamarca or Verlinde getting shifted over to a long stick midfielder role and shuttling on and off the field. With Lamarca recording 46 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers a year ago, I’d lean towards keeping him on the field, but I’m also not the coach. I’m also not the one listing Lamarca on the roster as a defender/long stick midfielder, which might tell us a thing or two about which direction this is leaning.</p>
<p id="g02bPz">There’s also <strong>Ryan Kilcoyne</strong>, who found himself starting in MU’s final six games of the season as a redshirt freshman last season. Those are his only six appearances all year, so there’s a question to be asked whether or not he’ll be asked to play a notable role this season if everyone stays healthy. <strong>Kelan Duff </strong>was in and out of the lineup all season in 2022, but appeared in six games with two starts. Was his playing time more a function of covering over injuries or was he showing the coaching staff that he deserves more time on the field?</p>
<p id="n9fkch"><strong>Jack Kinney</strong> and <strong>Brenden Boyle</strong> had deep bench roles last season with Kinney appearing in three games but not recording any stats worth talking about and Boyle redshirting during his first year on campus. If we’re already trying to figure out which guys are going to get playing time amongst the gentlemen in front of them on the depth chart last year, it certainly looks like both guys will be in the same position in 2023.</p>
<h1 id="7TyMct">FACEOFF SPECIALISTS</h1>
<p id="OX4Nom"><strong>Luke Williams</strong> was Marquette’s primary faceoff man a year ago, taking 234 of the team’s 404 draws on the year. He won over 56% of them, so with Thomas Washington’s time in blue and gold coming to an end, I’d imagine most of the extra draws will be headed in Williams’ direction.</p>
<p id="QtxhAE">With that said, MU does have two other options on the roster returning from last season, and it’s always important to have options for these kinds of things. <strong>Cole Emmanuel</strong> had a pretty good year in 2022 when his number was called. He actually won a higher percentage of his faceoffs than Williams, ending up at 59.4% on the 64 that he was on the field for, and he did that in just six games. Heck, his 14-for-21 against Georgetown in the Big East tournament semifinals was good enough to get him all-tournament team honors even though Marquette lost that game and didn’t advance for a second contest. Honestly, the fact that he had 14 faceoff wins in a game that Marquette lost 15-5 does go a long way towards explaining why he deserved the honor. There’s also <strong>Luke Rios</strong>, who did not play last season. He has one career game played in his time at Marquette and unfortunately lost all three draws he took in that one. </p>
<h1 id="8KzFE3">GOALKEEPERS</h1>
<p id="uP55xU">Marquette has three goalkeepers returning from last season, and based on what we saw in 2022, I think we have a pretty safe bet as to who MU’s primary netminder will be in 2023. <strong>Michael Allieri </strong>started all 15 games a year ago and logged all but 10:32 on the field. Yes, the two guys who split those 10 minutes, <strong>Jamie Grant</strong> and <strong>Max Christides</strong>, are both returning as well, but if the coaching staff was comfortable with Allieri, why would that change now? Allieri came up with stops on just over 50% of shots on goal last season and finished the year with a goals against average of 12.62. I’m not going to stand here and try and tell you these are world beating numbers.... but Allieri is currently tied with Cole Blazer for the best save percentage in program history with a minimum of 150 saves. Can he figure out a way to improve on that in 2023 and thus improve MU’s overall defense by way of an extra stop or two per game?</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/26/23529972/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-season-preview-returning-players-ogrady-woodward-allieriBrewtown Andy2023-01-25T14:15:00-06:002023-01-25T14:15:00-06:00MLax Picked 4th; 3 On Preseason All-BE Team
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<img alt="David Lamarca" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j93duO4YEZhGpPD0uc20CRP-C_U=/307x520:4711x3456/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71905635/David_Lamarca.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Am I taking advantage of the situation to use a picture of David Lamarca, someone who we don’t feature with pictures that much? Yes! | Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>As is almost always the case, the Big East looks to be a very challenging conference this season.</p> <p id="KPxInX">As we inch closer to the start of the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> men’s lacrosse season on February 4th, we keep passing notable mile markers on the path. Tuesday gave us a big one, as <a href="https://www.bigeast.com/news/2023/1/24/mens-lacrosse-georgetown-unanimous-favorite-in-bigeastmlax-coaches-poll.aspx">the Big East released the results of the preseason poll for men’s lacrosse in the league this season</a>. YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles earned 13 points to end up picked to finish fourth in the conference in 2023. In addition to that, three players — attacker Bobby O’Grady, defender Mason Woodward, and long stick midfielder David Lamarca were named to the 14 man preseason all-Big East team.</p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m6cgYp45HHPT_IaAAQSPVZHFWuA=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24385297/MLax_Preseason_poll.jpeg">
<cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.bigeast.com/news/2023/1/24/mens-lacrosse-georgetown-unanimous-favorite-in-bigeastmlax-coaches-poll.aspx" target="_blank">BigEast.com</a></cite>
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<p id="k1rOqn">As you can see, <a href="https://www.casualhoya.com">Georgetown</a> was the unanimous pick to win the Big East this spring, picking up all five possible votes since coaches can not vote for their own team. The Hoyas went 5-0 in league play last season, breaking up Denver’s stranglehold on the top spot after seven straight regular season titles for the Pioneers. GU as the unanimous top pick isn’t the surprise here, it’s Georgetown head coach Kevin Warne throwing his vote to <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a> instead of Denver. That’s a shocker, because did I mention the seven straight regular season titles for DU?</p>
<p id="PhaAeb">Anyway, that brought the Wildcats in third place as it appears that Denver was listed second on every single ballot possible, since they have 20 points, aka 5 instances of four points for a second place vote. Villanova has 18 points right along behind them, so it seems like there’s a bit of a drop in the estimation of the top three teams in the league to the Golden Eagles. That’s not a surprise, as <a href="https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/virginia-leads-2023-preseason-inside-lacrosse-media-poll-four-teams-get-first-place-votes/60569">Villanova was picking up some votes in the preseason Inside Lacrosse media poll</a> and Marquette was not. There also appears to be a bit of a gap between Marquette and Providence in fifth place, while St. John’s was voted last — 1 point for a fifth place vote, they have five points — on every single ballot.</p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/x-YkO6TxvIIR0-z30uyWagsR2Dk=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24385305/O_Grady_Woodward_Lamarca.jpeg">
<cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarquetteMLax/status/1617946942788567040" target="_blank">Twitter.com/MarquetteMLax</a></cite>
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<p id="1BjOCN">Let’s turn things over to <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2023/1/24/mens-lacrosse-o-grady-woodward-and-lamarca-are-preseason-all-big-east">the GoMarquette.com press release on the polling</a>, as they’re actually going to walk through why each MU player earned the honors from the rest of the league.</p>
<p id="YJtVD5">First, Mason Woodward, MU’s only unanimous pick for the all-conference team:</p>
<blockquote>
<p id="3Oa15k">Woodward is a two-time USILA All-American on close defense and a three-time team captain. The native of Towson, Maryland was a unanimous selection on defense alongside Georgetown’s Will Bowen and Jack DiBenedetto of Denver.</p>
<p id="CwTWfb">Woodward has led the Golden Eagles in caused turnovers in each of his three seasons and is the program’s all-time leader in ground balls per game (4.59 per contest). He returns as the league’s leader in ground balls among non-faceoff specialists and was a first team all-conference selection in 2021 in addition to second team honors last year.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="0fEjDj">And O’Grady:</p>
<blockquote><p id="HDxVSi">O’Grady was the league’s rookie of the year last spring and a first team all-conference selection after setting the MU single-season record with 45 goals. The native of Milton, Massachusetts scored 13 man-up goals as a true freshman and tied the BIG EAST single-game record won April 9 at St. John’s with eight scores.</p></blockquote>
<p id="2tnvFU">And Lamarca:</p>
<blockquote><p id="5MnTSi">Lamarca earns the first BIG EAST honor of his career as the league’s lone long-stick midfielder on the preseason team. The native of Monkton, Maryland posted 46 ground balls and caused 12 turnovers last season while playing all 15 games and making nine starts on close defense. He is the first MU LSM to earn recognition since USILA All-American Noah Richard in 2019.</p></blockquote>
<p id="lbzPY7">The press release also notes that this is the fifth time in 10 seasons as a member of the Big East that the Golden Eagles have had at least three players on the preseason all-conference team. It’s also the first time since 2019, and MU was picked to finish second that year. Does that mean big things for Marquette this season? Well, we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?</p>
<p id="jGLdFf">Back to the league poll!</p>
<p id="MuB3to">Georgetown’s Graham Bundy, Jr., was named Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while teammate Will Bowen was the unanimous pick as Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Bowen getting this nod isn’t a surprise, he was the postseason DPOY last spring, and if you return the next year, you get to be the preseason guy. No problems with that here. </p>
<p id="RpgEvr">Bundy was not a unanimous pick, so now I am curious how the five votes that could have gone to him went. <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/5/23525899/big-east-mens-lacrosse-preseason-award-predictions-campbell-bowen-denver-georgetown-villanova">My pick was Villanova’s Matt Campbell</a>, largely because — wait for it — he led the Big East in points per game in 2022 and is still a Wildcat in 2023. The argument for Bundy in the Big East’s press release is... he set Georgetown’s program record for points by a midfielder. Campbell beat Bundy in goals per game (3.00 vs 2.62) and points per game (4.43 vs 4.12) last year, while Bundy held the edge in assists per game at 1.50 to 1.43 for Campbell. I’m not saying it’s not close, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t vote for the best returning scorer on your pick to win the league..... but it seems pretty clear that Matt Campbell is the best returning scorer from last season.</p>
<p id="pUCbKN">Here’s the whole preseason all-Big East team, with a ^ marking the unanimous picks.</p>
<p id="DvoE2z"><strong>JJ Sillstrop, Denver, A ^</strong><br><strong>Tucker Dordevic, Georgetown, A</strong><br><strong>TJ Haley, Georgetown, A</strong><br><strong>Bobby O’Grady, Marquette, A</strong><br><strong>Graham Bundy, Jr., Georgetown, M ^</strong><br><strong>Declan McDermott, Georgetown, M</strong><br><strong>Matt Campbell, Villanova, M ^</strong><br><strong>Jack DiBenedetto, Denver, D ^</strong><br><strong>Will Bowen, Georgetown, D ^</strong><br><strong>Mason Woodward, Marquette, D ^</strong><br><strong>Chet Comizio, Villanova, SSDM</strong><br><strong>David Lamarca, Marquette, LSM</strong><br><strong>James Reilly, Georgetown, FOS ^</strong><br><strong>Jack Thompson, Denver, GK</strong></p>
<p id="7VR39F">The Big East notes that there are 14 guys listed here because of a tie somewhere in the voting. Based on the existence of four attackers when only three are on the field at any given time, I’m guessing that’s where the tie was.</p>
<p id="6okpKt"><a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/5/23525899/big-east-mens-lacrosse-preseason-award-predictions-campbell-bowen-denver-georgetown-villanova">In my picks, I got 10 of the 14 correct</a>, so that’s pretty neat. One of my misses was David Lamarca, as I went with Denver’s Malik Sparrow who was a Second Team honoree last spring. My other three misses were all Georgetown players: Tucker Dordevic, TJ Haley, and Declan McDermott. My miss on Dordevic is because he was at Syracuse last year and I didn’t bother to double check anyone for particularly notable transfers. Dordevic was a Third Team All-American last season and finished his four years in New York with 95 goals and 29 assists. Fair play to the coaches here.</p>
<p id="QsddjC">Haley didn’t get onto my preseason team because while he was a Second Team attacker last season, I gave the nod to Providence’s Matt Grillo since he had more points last season than Haley. Oh well on that one, the coaches like Hoyas. I went with Providence’s Ryan Bell to fill my third midfield spot because he led the Big East in assists last season, so again, I guess trying to just fill spots with deserving guys loses out to “Yeah, but Georgetown’s good.”</p>
<p id="FdTrGa">Marquette’s season opens on February 4th when they host Lindenwood at Valley Fields. In addition to it being the season opener for both teams, it will be Lindenwood’s first ever game as a Division 1 team. First draw is scheduled for 11am, and yes, that is National Marquette Day if you’re looking for something to occupy you until the men’s basketball team tips off against Butler.</p>
<p id="4zEtHO">You can check out <a href="https://www.bigeast.com/news/2023/1/24/mens-lacrosse-georgetown-unanimous-favorite-in-bigeastmlax-coaches-poll.aspx">the Big East press release right here</a> and <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2023/1/24/mens-lacrosse-o-grady-woodward-and-lamarca-are-preseason-all-big-east">the Marquette press release right here</a>. </p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/25/23571298/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-big-east-preseason-poll-awards-ogrady-woodward-lamarcaBrewtown Andy2023-01-05T09:15:00-06:002023-01-05T09:15:00-06:00Unscientific Predictions: Big East MLax Preseason Awards
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<img alt="NCAA Basketball: Georgetown at Xavier" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/R3h9MdAHKAX3vq7Z6JcI8G3qpTU=/0x0:4856x3237/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71826904/usa_today_8312914.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Those awards from the league office will be here before you know it, so let’s start figuring out what’s what in the conference this season!</p> <p id="D4uftC">I know everyone is still settling in to 2023. Hope that’s going well for you so far. Before you know it, it’s going to be time for lacrosse! Last year, we got the Big East preseason awards for men’s lacrosse on January 19th, so we should be well ahead of the curve by publishing these predictions for how the league’s coaches are going to vote today!</p>
<p id="yZTAJ9">We’ll give you an offensive and defensive player of the year, just like the league office well. After that, there’s a 13 man all-Big East team heading into the year. Finally, we’ll take a swing at predicting what the conference standings will look like by the time we get to the Big East tournament in May. </p>
<p id="ezeoDn">Let’s get started!</p>
<h2 id="WohtaC">Offensive Player of the Year: Matt Campbell, <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a>
</h2>
<p id="v75i3S">The biggest lesson of all when it comes to these estimations as to how the Big East coaches are going to vote is a simple one: Don’t overthink it. Campbell led the Big East in points per game last season at 4.43. I’m not sure how he didn’t win the award at the end of last season other than he didn’t lead the league in goals, but Georgetown’s Dylan Watson (3.56 goals/game vs Campbell’s 3.00) isn’t around any more to alter the equation. If you want to have a conversation about other possible candidates, Georgetown’s Graham Bundy is the only returning player to average north of four points a game and Marquette’s Bobby O’Grady averaged the exact same number of goals as Campbell.</p>
<h2 id="Q61y9n">Defensive Player of the Year: Will Bowen, <a href="https://www.casualhoya.com">Georgetown</a>
</h2>
<p id="h46Abw">Again we take the tactic of not overthinking this, and in this case, there’s even less thinking to do. Bowen got the postseason version of this trophy in 2022 and he returns for 2023. The coaches thought he was the best player in the league on that end of the field last season, and now even fellow Hoya Gibson Smith IV isn’t even around to add questions due to both of them being unanimous choices for the all-Big East First Team, the end, let’s all keep it moving. </p>
<h2 id="HeyOOK">All-Big East Team</h2>
<p id="qj4Ljm"><strong>Ryan Bell, Providence, M</strong><br><strong>Will Bowen, Georgetown, D</strong><br><strong>Graham Bundy, Jr., Georgetown, M</strong><br><strong>Matt Campbell, Villanova, M</strong><br><strong>Chet Comizio, Villanova, SSDM</strong><br><strong>Jack DiBenedetto, Denver, D</strong><br><strong>Matt Grillo, Providence, A</strong><br><strong>Bobby O’Grady, </strong><a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com"><strong>Marquette</strong></a><strong>, A</strong><br><strong>James Reilly, Georgetown, FO</strong><br><strong>JJ Silstrop, Denver, A</strong><br><strong>Malik Sparrow, Denver, LSM</strong><br><strong>Jack Thompson, Denver, GK</strong><br><strong>Mason Woodward, Marquette, D</strong></p>
<p id="YaWFzr">A lot of this was pretty straight forward. Campbell and Bowen go straight onto the list thanks to their individual awards. Bundy was a unanimous choice for the First Team last season, and he was joined on the First Team by DiBenedetto, O’Grady, Sillstrop, and Reilly. Grillo was the leading point guy amongst the Second Team attackers, so he joins Sillstrop and O’Grady in that trio here. Comizio, Sparrow, and Thompson all get their spots by being Second Team honorees at the end of the 2022 season and having seniors on the First Team end their careers to open up the spots.</p>
<p id="dkLCnl">That left me with just two judgement calls to make here. I needed a third midfielder to balance things out as Bundy is technically the only midfielder returning from last year’s all-Big East teams. Officially, the Big East honored Campbell as a First Team attacker, but Villanova does list him as a middie, so we make the move to get to two and then add PC’s Ryan Bell. He led the Big East in assists per game last season, and missed out on all-league honors so I’m happy to elevate him here. The other one was in the D-Man group with Denver’s AJ Mercurio and Marquette’s Mason Woodward returning as Second Team honorees last season. The Pioneers already had four players on the all-conference list so just for the sake of keeping it interesting (not to mention hilarious homerism) I went with Woodward.</p>
<h3 id="AimESu">Predicted Order Of Finish</h3>
<p id="t2RPDy"><strong>1 - Denver</strong><br><strong>2 - Georgetown</strong><br><strong>3 - Marquette</strong><br><strong>4 - Villanova</strong><br><strong>5 - Providence</strong><br><strong>6 - St. John’s</strong></p>
<p id="FYytC8">I’m flipping Denver and Georgetown from last year’s end of season standings just because the Hoyas have lost way too much from that team. They have five First Team guys from last season who are no longer there, and that’s enough for me to tip the tables towards the Pios. GU is also still absurdly talented with Bundy and Bowen leading the way, so it’s not like I’m saying they’re going to be bad.</p>
<p id="oazTrv">I also flipped Marquette and Villanova from last year’s standings. That was a two-goal game at Valley Fields last season, and if it goes the other way, the two teams flip their records and their spots in the standings. I choose to believe that a healthier Marquette team — in particular with Mason Woodward in the lineup — is good enough to make the difference there.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/1/5/23525899/big-east-mens-lacrosse-preseason-award-predictions-campbell-bowen-denver-georgetown-villanovaBrewtown Andy2022-12-14T08:30:00-06:002022-12-14T08:30:00-06:00Marquette Men’s Lacrosse Announces Their 2023 Schedule
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<img alt="Devon Cowan" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OxlbgUEULrCU4qItb9-Gc5fDrAc=/211x0:3500x2193/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71748699/Devon_Cowan.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>What’s in store from Devon Cowan in Year 4? | Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>Two neutral site games and six home games lead the way to hosting the Big East tournament in May.</p> <p id="zNh7pi">With about six weeks to go before exhibition play begins, YOUR <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> men’s lacrosse team announced their 2023 schedule on Tuesday. It’s a pretty newsworthy schedule for the Golden Eagles in Year Four under the direction of Andrew Stimmel, as Marquette will play four teams for the first time ever as well as participate in two neutral site games, one of which is against one of those first time opponents. On top of all of that, Marquette will be the host of the 2023 Big East tournament in May, which will add an extra level of excitement to all five of MU’s league games this spring.</p>
<p id="vDI9Ec">After Marquette starts things off with an open scrimmage on January 21st and an exhibition at home against High Point on January 27th, the 2023 season officially gets underway with a home date against Lindenwood on Saturday, February 4. This will be the first ever Division 1 competition for the Lions, as they make the move from Division 2 to D1 this season. Lindenwood went 12-4 in their final season in D2 and reached the NCAA tournament after winning the GLVC tournament. After that, it’s three straight games away from Milwaukee across the rest of the month for Marquette. They’ll visit <a href="https://www.blocku.com">Utah</a> for the first time ever the following Saturday, although that’s a return date from <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/2/28/22954552/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-recap-utah-utes-preview-michigan-wolverines">last year’s 12-11 loss to the Utes at Valley Fields</a> which was the first ever regular season contest between the two sides. Four days later, Marquette will be in South Bend for one of two mid-week games, this time renewing their series with <a href="https://www.onefootdown.com">Notre Dame</a>. We can’t call it a rivalry with the Irish winning all 10 meetings, including one in the 2017 NCAA tournament as well as <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/4/12/23023007/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-recap-notre-dame-fighting-irish">last year’s 18-8 game in Milwaukee</a>. Finally, the last Saturday of the month brings the first neutral site game of the season, as Marquette will head down to Naples, Florida, for a game against <a href="https://www.maizenbrew.com">Michigan</a>. MU is 1-3 all time against the Wolverines after <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/3/4/22959836/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-recap-michigan-wolverines-preview-detroit-mercy-titans">last year’s 12-10 home loss</a>. This one will be part of a doubleheader with <a href="https://www.landgrantholyland.com">Ohio State</a>/<a href="https://www.streakingthelawn.com">Virginia</a> as the other side at the <a href="https://playparadisecoast.com/">Paradise Coast Sports Complex</a>.</p>
<p id="yV40vf">March starts off with one more road date, this time a Saturday trip to see Detroit Mercy. MU is 8-1 all time against the Titans and undefeated in the series when it’s not played in Wisconsin. Finally, on March 11, Marquette will be back in Milwaukee for a game, this time against Bellarmine. Marquette is 5-3 all time against the Knights, and the Golden Eagles have won three straight including <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/2/13/22930951/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-recap-bellarmine-knights-ogrady">a triple-overtime season opener in Kentucky last season</a>. A week later, MU will be out of town again, but this time they’ll cross off that other neutral site game. This one will be at MacArthur High School in Levittown, New York, and Marquette will face off against <a href="https://www.blackshoediaries.com">Penn State</a> for the first time in program history. The last game of March is a Saturday home game and a second straight brand new opponent, as Marquette will host St. Bonaventure on March 25th. This will be the fifth year of competition for the Bonnies, and they are coming off their first ever first winning season after finishing 11-4 in 2022.</p>
<p id="AXByxb">April is mostly just for Big East matches, starting with a road trip to Providence on Saturday, April 1, and continuing every Saturday for the rest of the month. Well, almost every Saturday, as the regular season will wrap up with a home date against Denver, because what would a Marquette men’s lacrosse season be if the Golden Eagles don’t face the Pioneers in the regular season finale? The lone exception to Big East play as the month goes along is the only other mid-week game of the season, as MU will head to New York to face Cornell on Tuesday, April 11. That makes three straight non-conference games against teams that Marquette has never played before to wrap up that end of the slate.</p>
<p id="FzUAVe">Finally, we can’t get out of here without pointing out that Valley Fields will be the home of the 2023 Big East men’s lacrosse tournament. It will be a four team event, with the semifinals on Thursday, May 4th, and the championship game on May 6. Hopefully the weather cooperates to get those games outdoors because that will make for a much better television product.</p>
<p id="XqoCIs">Here’s the full schedule, with dates and times and everything!</p>
<div id="KFGLIU"><div data-anthem-component="table:11673150"></div></div>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/12/14/23508739/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-schedule-big-east-notre-dame-michigan-penn-stateBrewtown Andy2022-05-31T09:15:00-05:002022-05-31T09:15:00-05:00The Marquette Men’s Lacrosse Single Season Goals Chart
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<img alt="Bobby O’Grady" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aN3k13Bf68tHMoejJHPA3UU8Wxs=/0x1:5181x3455/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70927064/Bobby_O_Grady.0.jpeg" />
<figcaption>Bobby O’Grady: Noted Good Goal Scorer | Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>Bobby O’Grady broke the program record in 2022 and he’ll have a chance at becoming the first Golden Eagle to record multiple 25 goal seasons.</p> <p id="JvM75C">By now, you should be more than familiar with <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/11/7/18072334/marquette-golden-eagles-athletics-statistics-leaderboards"><strong>our series of regularly updating leaderboards</strong></a> for various <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/marquette-golden-eagles"><strong>Marquette Golden Eagles</strong></a> sports accomplishments. Keep checking back to that link in the previous sentence for our charts as the seasons continue to churn through history and MU’s various teams continue to create new memories and accomplishments.</p>
<p id="qvz5FA">Here, we take a look at the single season goals record for men’s lacrosse.</p>
<p id="CG6gBU">Bobby O’Grady did not wrap up 2022 with the single season record for points, but he did knock down the program record for goals in a season. Before 2022, only Ryan McNamara had ever scored 40 goals in a season, and he did that exactly on the nose in 2016, the year MU won their first ever <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a> championship. At the time, McNamara had become just the second Marquette player to ever record 35 goals in a season and the first to ever clear 37. O’Grady went flying right past the workhorse of Marquette’s first two NCAA tournament teams, and landed on 45 goals in MU’s 15 games in 2022. That makes him the first Marquette player to ever average a hat trick for an entire season. Up til now, Tyler Melnyk’s 2.57 per game in 2014 was the gold standard for the Blue and Gold. </p>
<p id="6ePxUt">I want to take another thing into account here while celebrating O’Grady’s accomplishment. Scroll down and look at the top 10 right now. You know what you don’t see? You don’t see anyone listed twice. No one in the admittedly short history of Marquette lacrosse has ever had two 24+ goal seasons. Even Ryan McNamara, who set the record in 2016, followed that up with just 22 markers the following season. So here’s the thing about that, as we go forward: Bobby O’Grady is going to get three more cracks at this top 10 list. Three more cracks at breaking his own record, sure, three more shots at becoming MU’s first ever 50 goal scorer. That’s the obvious way to look at it. </p>
<p id="htnrFg">The other way to look at it? There’s a non-zero chance that this top 10 list turns into a Bobby O’Grady tribute page by the time his collegiate career is over. It seems extremely likely that O’Grady will bump at least one of these guys out of the top 10 eventually as all he has to do to get there is go just a bit past half as many goals as he had this season. He had three goals a game this year, and if he drops to just two a game while playing 15 games next year, that’s still a three-way tie for the fifth most goals in a season. Heck, forget the top 10 list, the top 5 spots could be just Bobby O’Grady and Ryan McNamara by the time things are said and done.</p>
<p id="Ft2GUz">Here’s what the chart looks like at the end of the 2022 season.</p>
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https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/5/31/23145835/marquette-golden-eagles-mens-lacrosse-single-season-goals-record-top-10Brewtown Andy