Because of when first draw between Marquette and Cleveland State in men’s lacrosse was scheduled on Saturday, I knew I wasn’t going to get to watch much if any of it at all live. And so, well more than an hour in, I said to myself, “oh, lacrosse started at noon, how’s that going?”
And I opened up the live stats to see Nolan Rappis putting Marquette up 7-5.
Now, if this was a score that came in a game where guys were just bombing goals in and it was just barely into the second quarter, that’s fine.
Maybe not fun for goalie Lucas Lawas, but that’s a different issue. No, this was with 9:51 left in regulation, and then my second reaction was “wait, that means it was just 6-5.” What is going on here…..
So I go to the play by play and I filter for just goals.
Friends, let me tell you: I was not excited to find out that 1) Marquette had scored first, 2) Cleveland State scored the next five goals of the game, and 3) Marquette did not score their second goal of the game until there were 8 minutes and 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
It was 3-1 at halftime. 3-1, with Cleveland State winning on shots 16-13 and Marquette winning on turnovers, giving it up just seven times compared to 10 for the Vikings.
What on earth is going on here? This is a Marquette team that was feisty at least through halftime against two ranked teams the past two Saturdays, merely moving the games out of the Valley bubble and to Cleveland should have that much of an impact on this.
So, anyway, I’m staring at my phone, dumbfounded by all of this.
Here’s how the official team recap describes the action:
Marquette trailed for much of the first half as Cleveland State controlled the early momentum. The Vikings struck first and carried a 2–1 lead after the opening quarter, then added a late goal in the second to take a 3–1 advantage into halftime.
The Golden Eagles began to shift the tone coming out of the break. Marquette found rhythm offensively in the third quarter, scoring three times to cut into the deficit and remain within striking distance, despite Cleveland State answering with a pair of goals to maintain a narrow 5–4 lead heading into the final period.
What a pleasant description. I presume that head coach Jake Richard was not so languid about this. By the way? CSU did not “answer” with goals in the third, they scored the first two before MU’s offense took off, so in a way, the official team recap is lying to you about what happened. Fun!
How’s their description of the fourth quarter?
The fourth quarter belonged to Marquette. The Golden Eagles erupted for five goals in the final 15 minutes, using timely possessions and efficient finishing to flip the one-goal deficit into a multi-goal lead. Marquette’s defense matched the surge, limiting Cleveland State to just two late scores and closing the door over the final minutes to secure the 9–7 win.
Yeah, uh, I don’t think I agree with that, not with Cleveland State’s Will Adair scoring with 1:48 to play to pull the Vikings back within one, 8-7. The ensuing faceoff win by Adam Slager was incredibly critical for Marquette, and not just because Tucker Mullen scored 47 seconds later to nudge the margin back to two. Same goes for Slager’s FO win after that goal, as that allowed the Golden Eagles to play keep away and end the game.
The Marquette that played for the final 24 minutes had a hell of a game, beating CSU 8-2 and outshooting the Vikings 24-7. The whole 60 minutes? Kinda not fun. At least they won, which is especially notable because this is Marquette’s first win of the season.
Nolan Rappis dragged Marquette to this win, getting four goals and two assists on the five MU goals that he didn’t score himself. Carsen Brandt did a great job facilitating with whatever we’re calling three assists in a game. There’s a cool “hat trick” type name for that, right? Lucas Lawas comes away from this one looking pretty good in net with just seven goals allowed and 13 saves to mitigate MU’s problems on the other end of the field.
Highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+:
Up Next: Well, maybe how this went for about 2/3rds of the game will light a fire under the Golden Eagles for their next game, which is less than 24 hours from now. On Monday, Marquette will visit Detroit Mercy for a matinee game, starting at 11am Central. Why DAYTIME LACROSSE~!? I don’t know, but to make matters worse, there appears to be no streaming broadcast of this game. The Titans are 1-3 on the year after taking a 16-9 loss to Bellarmine on Saturday.
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