I wonder how Marquette women’s lacrosse spent the day on Tuesday.
They were supposed to host Detroit Mercy for a mid-day start in the middle of spring break on campus, but the Titans ended up being forced to withdraw from the game because of a lack of available healthy players after a 20-3 loss to Lindenwood dropped them to 0-5 on the season. I would figure that head coach Meredith Black would have been looking for some kind of change of pace to keep her team on their toes instead of the game they
were expecting to play. Just a simple blue vs gold scrimmage instead of a practice? Team bonding exercise off campus instead? Day off?
In any case, the lack of game against UDM now means that Saturday’s game in New York is now the first contest on the quest for Meredith Black’s second 100 victories as Marquette head coach. #100 in her career and in program history came in the 19-9 victory over Youngstown State last Friday, and that moved Black’s record to 100-124 with the 4-3 record so far this season. I suppose this kind of launches the official quest to get Black (and the program!) over .500 as well. With just eight games left in this season, this is going to be more of a multi-year quest for Black and the Golden Eagles, but even going 5-3 down the stretch helps move that in the right direction.
Marquette handled their business against the Penguins fairly easily in that 19-9 victory, but one thing that did not quite go as well as you’d like to see in a game that lopsided is draw controls. Marquette only had a one draw advantage against Youngstown State, finishing up at 15-14. MU was actually losing the DC battle 10-7 at halftime even though they were up 12-4 on the scoreboard. Draws have been a struggle for Marquette so far this season, as they’re losing that department 114-99 overall, which is a little bit over trailing by two per game on average. Maybe it’s going a little bit better than those numbers say since Northwestern beat Marquette 27-7, but the fact remains that MU wasn’t so hot on draw controls last year, either.
When you’re having a wee bit of trouble on the defensive end — MU is giving up 13.29 goals per 60 minutes and only stopping 35% of shots on cage — you can fix that up a little bit by merely denying possession to your opponent. Winning draws is a way to do that, and to a certain extent, that’s a way to improve the defense without actually doing anything on the defensive end to immediately get better. Obviously, just saying “win more draws” is easier said than done, but it’s something to keep an eye on if MU gets into a shootout with Niagara on Saturday.
Game #8: at Niagara Purple Eagles (1-6)
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2026
Time: 11am Central
Location: Niagara Field, Lewiston, New York
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 5-2 all time against Niagara. The series started with a game in Milwaukee in 2018, and Marquette won that one, 23-15, and they won each of the first three meetings. Since then, the games have bounced back and forth with each team winning at home, including last year’s 16-11 MU victory in Milwaukee.
Niagara was picked to finish fifth in the MAAC this season, and that’s in a 12 team league. That’s a pretty solid vote of confidence for the Purple Eagles relative to their league peers, but as far as on the field competition, that hasn’t helped them out all that much. Niagara started off the season by giving up 10 unanswered goals in the first 20 minutes against USF on their way to a 20-5 loss. Their other five losses this year have all been closer than that, with the widest margin coming last time out against USC in a 19-10 defeat. That loss to the Trojans is one of just two games this season where the Eagles have cracked the double digit margin in goals, both coming in losses. Their lone win of the year was an 8-7 escape on the road against Le Moyne, where a power play goal by Kensington Keane with 6:02 to play provided the final margin.
Keane is actually NU’s leading scorer this season even though she has come off the bench in all seven of their games. She has a team high 11 goals, and she’s tied with Michaela Delles for the lead in assists with four. That gives Keane 15 total points, two more than Delles and Maddy Gill, who is Niagara’s only other double digit goal scorer with 10. Gill and Delles are the top two shooters in terms of total attempts this season, so congrats to Keane for really making the most of her opportunities, even more so because she’s listed on the roster as a defender.
Almost all of Niagara’s minutes in net have gone to sophomore Haley Terry. That’s not much of a surprise after she started all 18 games a year ago for them. Her 15.57 goals-against average is not particularly great, but that is after giving up 18 in 55 minutes against USF in the opener, so it’s drifting downwards. It’s not drifting particularly quickly because she’s stopping less than 38% of shots on goal. That’s not good, and when you mix in the fact that Niagara is getting outshot by 12 attempts per game on average, that’s really a problem for both Terry and the Purple Eagles.
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