Was Marquette women’s lacrosse good enough to beat Arizona State on Tuesday afternoon? Well, they were even with the Sun Devils at 15-all through the final 45 minutes, and they outscored ASU 9-8 after halftime, too. There appears to be a lot of evidence to suggest that the Golden Eagles had a winnable game in Tempe.
Except……
Arizona State scored the first four goals of the game and Marquette didn’t break through onto the scoreboard until there was less than two minutes left in the first quarter. I
think it’s pretty safe to say that if Marquette doesn’t spot the Sun Devils a 4-0 lead in the first 13 minutes, they have a legitimate chance of pulling out a win. Heck, MU actually chased Arizona State’s starting goalie out of the game after firing in 10 goals on 15 shots on frame midway through the third quarter.
But because of that four goal starting margin, Marquette never got closer than two goals. In fact, most of the game was spent with a wider margin than that. Ella Mautz pulled the Golden Eagles within two at 5-3 early in the second quarter, but they wouldn’t get that close again until they scored three straight late in the third quarter to make it 15-13.
A two goal game with 16 minutes left is clearly anyone’s game, because way too many things can happen in lacrosse. For example, Arizona State can score with 21 seconds left in the quarter and then tack on the first two goals of the fourth quarter to go back up by five with 12 minutes left. Other than the four goal deficit out of the gate, that’s the story of the game. Marquette had the gas to run with Arizona State, but never enough to overtake them. Maybe just one more goal or one more stop in a row at some point might have turned the table, but the Golden Eagles never quite got there.
Dani Serrano led Marquette here with a goal on each and every one of the five shots she took in the game. One of Marquette’s problems on the offensive end? Arizona State took away Hanna Bodner and Tess Osburn, who combined for three goals and an assist on six shots here. Jillian Howell went the distance in net for the Golden Eagles for the first time in her career, and as a result, she posted a career high 11 saves to keep MU in the running. There were a couple of aggressive defense type freshman mistakes that a Division 1 offense was able to punish Howell for, but she also came up with at least two saves on free position attempts to make a difference for MU here.
Highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+:
Up Next: The Golden Eagles will take the rest of the month off. That does mean they’ll be back in action on Sunday, since that’s March 1st, and it will be another road game, this time down in Florida against Jacksonville. First draw is scheduled for 11am Central time, and ESPN+ will have the broadcast. The Dolphins are currently 2-0 on the year, but they’ll host Brown on Friday before Marquette comes to town.
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