I feel like Marquette’s trip to Tempe has to be a wake up call for the Golden Eagles.
Marquette women’s lacrosse got caught on their back foot for the first 13 minutes against Arizona State back on Tuesday afternoon, falling behind 4-0 in the first eight minutes of the game and not scoring until there was less than two minutes left in the first quarter. ASU won four of the first five draw controls of the game which kept the ball out of Marquette’s offensive end for most of the first 10 minutes, and the Golden
Eagles were getting outshot 10-3 by the time Dani Serrano got loose for MU’s first goal thanks to a green card against the Sun Devils.
Gave up a 4-0 opening burst and couldn’t maintain possession long enough to pose much of a threat in the first 13 minutes, lost by three. It’s nearly impossible to not draw a connection between these two things, even though Arizona State ultimately did lead by as many as six goals in the second quarter. After the 4-0 start and the 10-3 shot start, Marquette outscored Arizona State 16-15 and the shots were just 28-22 in favor of ASU the rest of the way.
Based on how a majority of that game went, it was possible for Marquette to come out of the desert with a win. They just put themselves in a horrible position to start and couldn’t do enough to dig their way back out of it. It’s possible that’s a bigger problem that just “falling behind early = bad,” because it might mean that Marquette doesn’t have the defense to carry a sustained run. It’s possible that this is a particular construction of a team that is going to have to rely on getting into shootouts with opponents. As someone who has to watch the games, I’m not against watching a bunch of 19-16 lacrosse…. but that might be kind of tiring for Marquette to have to endure game after game.
New game, new experience, and so on, so let’s see how head coach Meredith Black and her squad react to their first loss in a game they could have felt confident about winning this season.
Game #6: at Jacksonville Dolphins (3-0)
Date: Sunday, March 1, 2026
Time: 11am Central
Location: Rock Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 0-1 all time against Jacksonville. The only other meeting came back in 2024 when the Dolphins defeated the Golden Eagles 18-14 in Florida.
Jacksonville moved to 3-0 on the year on Friday afternoon with a 16-10 win over Brown. The Dolphins were trailing 7-5 at halftime and down 8-5 with 12 minutes left in the third quarter. From there, they scored the next nine goals of the game to take a commanding 14-8 lead with just under 12 minutes left and they held Brown without a goal until there was less than seven minutes left. Even then, it took a JU penalty to assist the Bears in finding the back of the net.
That was the third straight game this season where Jacksonville scored at least 14 goals in a game and it marks a highwater mark in terms of goals allowed by the Dolphins as well. Lacrosse Reference hasn’t updated with Friday’s data as I write this on Saturday morning, but heading into the Brown game, the Dolphins were the #4 defense in the country in terms of efficiency, and they pair that with the #35 offense. That’s a pretty potent combination, and at least with two games on the board, that has JU as LaxRef’s #33 overall ranked team. For comparison, Marquette is #13 on offense, but #92 on defense and #45 overall. Is the game winnable for the Golden Eagles? Sure, but if we’re assigning probability, it’s safe to say that Jacksonville would be statistically favored here.
Jacksonville spreads out their shots pretty evenly through three games, but shots leader Shae Hagans is also the Dolphins’ goals leader. She’s also ruthlessly efficient with her shots, as the sophomore from Texas has a team high 11 goals on a team high 19 shots. She’s coming off five goals on eight shots in the win over Brown, and three of her five came in that game winning 9-0 run. Maeve Brennan and Ainsley Scruggs are averaging more than two goals a game for JU this season, and it’s possible that Scruggs is actually a more dangerous shooter than Hagans. Seven goals on nine shots? Clearly the answer is to get her more looks at the net, right?
Elia Alewine has started all three games so far this season in Jacksonville’s net, but she’s left at halftime in each of the last two games. JU was up 10-2 on Rider in the first one, so you see that decision, but it’s interesting to note that Alewine was pulled down 7-5 against Brown before the Dolphins’ offense kicked in after halftime. Could have been the plan to get Brookelynn Hodgin into the game again anyway, but it does mean that Alewine is coming off giving up seven goals on eight shots on goal against the Bears. Hodgin made six saves in the second half to help propel Jacksonville’s comeback, so I can’t say that I’m 100% sure who’s starting in net on Sunday. At some point, Hodgin’s .643 save percentage takes priority over Alewine’s .485, y’know?
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