If you didn’t get to Fiserv for men’s basketball on Saturday but instead went out to Valley Fields for some lacrosse, you got treated to a fireworks show. Five different Golden Eagles — including defenseman Brady Nicholas!! — posted a hat trick as Marquette men’s lacrosse threw together a 21-12 victory over Mercer. It’s the third most goals in a game in MU history and just the fourth game with 20 or more goals.
Officially, this goes in the books as a come-from-behind victory for Marquette, as Mercer’s
Nick Church scored the first goal of the game just 32 seconds in. After that, it was slow going, as Marquette didn’t tie the game until just under 10 minutes left in the period, and goal #2 for the Golden Eagles didn’t come until the 7:17 mark. After that, things got wild. From there, it was eight goals in the final seven minutes of the frame, and thankfully, five of them went for Marquette. Mercer’s Will Zylstra had the last word before the break, so it was 7-4 Marquette after 15 minutes.
The goal rate continued apace in the second period, as MU’s Peter Detwiler scored at the 13:17 mark to trigger a combined 10 goals in the quarter. For a brief moment, up until the 11 minute mark, it seemed like Mercer was going to play a part in the fireworks factory exploding, as goals from Zylstra and Dillon Bush cut Marquette’s lead to just 8-6. However, Bush’s goal would be the last one of the quarter for the visiting Bears, and when Matt Caputo scored right before halftime, Marquette was up 15-6.
This was a case of Marquette making more of their chances than Mercer, as shots were kind of close, 28-21. However, shots on goal were not close, with Marquette leading 18-9 there. Mercer was a bit sloppy as well, scattering 12 turnovers around the seasonal bubble, and MU didn’t even commit their first giveaway of the game until nearly halfway through the second quarter.
Mercer did tilt the game far enough in their direction in the third quarter to make you say, hey, Marquette can’t survive another quarter like that. Michael Frederick’s goal with 2:09 left in the quarter pulled the Bears within six, 17-11, and they won the quarter 5-2. Marquette’s defense stood up in the fourth quarter, and goals from Rappis and Nicholas pushed the margin back out to eight as the clock wound under six minutes to play. Mercer got one more on the board, but time was not on their side, and then goals from Tucker Mullen and Andrew Bowman made it academic.
LET’S POST BRADY NICHOLAS GOALS, BECAUSE THEY’RE COOL
BOOOO, POST THE THIRD GOAL, MARQUETTE, POLE GOALS ARE SICK
ahem
Nolan Rappis tossed in two assists on his hat trick to get a team high five points, and Carsen Brandt had one helper to be one point behind Rappis. Bradley Johnson led the way for field players with five ground balls, while Mike Piraino topped the charts with three caused turnovers. Shouts to Jack Kask, who played the final 66 seconds and made a save and did not allow a goal. Lucas Lawas played the rest and made eight saves.
Highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+:
Up Next: Can I interest you in MID-WEEK DAYTIME LACROSSE? Perhaps because it’s Spring Break, Marquette’s next game will be on Wednesday at noon Central at Valley Fields. The Golden Eagles will be playing host to Utah, and ESPN+ will have the streaming broadcast. The Utes moved to 4-2 on the year thanks to a 17-10 win over Dartmouth on Saturday, and that’s probably going to keep them in Inside Lacrosse top 20 votes for another week.
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