Eventually the dam broke on Marquette women’s lacrosse last time out against Northwestern. It was bound to happen, that’s what happens when you play a top 10 ranked opponent that has the NCAA’s record holder for goals in a season on the roster. It was close for about 18 minutes, with CJ Meehan scoring to pull Marquette within two, 5-3, and then it was 20-4 Wildcats after that.
Oh well.
Marquette can’t let that setback on the win/loss record actually turn into a setback on the field. MU’s next five
opponents currently have a combined record of 4-10. Five is an important number because that’s what is in between the Golden Eagles and the start of Big East play. At a glance, it is not unreasonable to suggest that Marquette could head into their Big East opener against Georgetown with a record of 8-1 on the season. It’s going to take some doing, especially with four of the five coming on the road over the next three weeks. It seems possible, and that’s the important thing.
As long as the Northwestern game is a net positive in terms of growing as a team and understanding that sometimes you have to dig a little bit deeper to make a play, then Marquette should come out of it okay and get started on a new winning streak on Tuesday afternoon in the desert. Even after a low output against the Wildcats, Marquette is still a top 10 scoring offense in the country in terms of goals per game. Keep that up, make some stops to make up for the flood of NU goals, and see what happens.
Speaking of seeing what happens: Head coach Meredith Black did flip her goalie situation against Northwestern. Freshman Jillian Howell got the start in net and made four saves on 18 shots on goal in the first half. Mikayla Yang came on in relief at the break with MU down 14-4, and gave up 11 goals on 13 shots on frame, even with the running clock keeping things moving and even with the Wildcats under no need to pressure the Golden Eagles for goals. That feels like Howell should get the start again… and maybe not actually give way at the half, perhaps.
Game #5: at Arizona State Sun Devils (1-2)
Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Time: 1pm Central
Location: Sun Devil Lacrosse Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 1-1 all time against Arizona State. The Sun Devils won the first meeting back in 2020, while Marquette won the second contest in overtime last year. Both teams won the home game in the series.
Arizona State’s season has been “oof” and then “well, not awful” and then “yep, took care of that.” They started the year by blowing an 11-5 lead with 6 minutes left in the third quarter and taking a 12-11 overtime loss on the road against Oregon. Yes, they didn’t score at all in the final 21 minutes of regulation and even Oregon’s winner came with just 15 seconds left in the overtime period. Game #2 of the year was their home opener, and #22 Denver was up 6-0 at the end of the first and 7-0 with 14 minutes left in the second. That’s awful, but the “well, not awful” part comes in where ASU played the Pioneers even, 7-7, the rest of the way. Finally, the Sun Devils got a 23-9 win over Lindenwood last time out where they gave up the first goal of the game and were up just 4-3 at the end of the first quarter. It was 12-6 at halftime, but that was in the middle of a 8-1 run by ASU that stretched late in to the third period and kicked in the running clock.
After an eight point day against Lindenwood, Jordyn Behar has the team lead in points for Arizona State. She’s going about it in a slightly unorthodox way, as her five assists against Lindenwood have given her seven on the year and that’s more than half of her 13 points this season. Her six goals in three games is good, of course, but that means she’s still three off the team lead there. That’s Lydia Oldknow and Teagan Ng in a tie there, and Oldknow has two assists to edge out Ng for the second best point total on the team so far. Those three are the only Sun Devils with more than 10 shots through three contests, so it’s a safe bet that they’ll continue to be the focus of the attack once again.
I’m not 100% certain that Regan Spichiger will start her fourth game of the year in net on Tuesday. She went the distance against Oregon, which means she was on the field as ASU blew that lead. The sophomore from New Jersey lasted 11 minutes against Denver before head coach Taryn VanThof Puls yanked her after giving up four goals on five shots faced. Spichiger made it just over 21 minutes against Lindenwood, giving up five goals on nine shots faced while making two saves. Even though the final margin was lopsided, that game was very much in doubt with 8:22 left in the second quarter with Arizona State up 8-5. There had just been two straight goals scored by Lindenwood a minute apart, so that perhaps explains it. Gabi Henry has been the recipient of the minutes, and she has stopped nearly 52% of shots on frame in her 72 minutes of action against just 30% for Spichiger in nearly 98 minutes.
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