Marquette’s first two games of the season were fine, mostly speaking.
You don’t have to like that they went 0-2, even if it was against two ranked opponents, but the fact of the matter is that they made both Michigan and Notre Dame pull away from them in the second half. In ND’s case, it wasn’t even really until the fourth quarter that the thing really started to feel like it was going in one definitive direction. An average goal differential of -6 in two games against ranked foes? Again: Losing =
not fun, but that’s being competitive, mostly speaking.
And so we move into the next segment of Jake Richard’s second season in charge. At a glance, it would seem to be that the effort that kept Marquette within shouting range of both of their first two opponents will push them towards victories against their next two opponents. Nothing against those guys, but there’s a bit of a gap between “two ranked opponents” and “two teams with a combined 1-5 record.”
The question is, I think, is how does Marquette handle 1) the travel for the first road game of the year and 2) the quick turn around for a second game also on the road less than 48 hours later? The good news, travel-wise, is that Game #2 is a nice little 3 hour bus ride away from Game #1, and that’s something you can do either A) right after Game #1 and then spend the offday doing whatever or B) leisurely go about it on the off day and arrive whenever in the evening before an 11am Central time start the next day.
In terms of the vibes of the season, this is going to be an important three day stretch for the Golden Eagles. Their next game after this is Harvard out on Long Island, and then Utah two games later. Two games after that is the start of Big East play and then you’re into April already. Perhaps Richard doesn’t want to think about his team and his season in that way, but to be honest, things are going to start feeling real shaky if MU isn’t back to .500 by dinner time on Monday night.
Game #3: at Cleveland State Vikings (0-3)
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2026
Time: Noon Central
Location: Krenzler Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Marquette is 3-1 all time against Cleveland State. The Vikings won the first ever meeting, 7-5, perhaps because whatever then-head coach Joe Amplo saw fit to suspend 19 players for the game. MU won in overtime one year later to start a run of three straight wins over CSU, including 15-7 in Milwaukee last year.
Cleveland State was picked to finish sixth in the NEC’s preseason poll, one spot ahead of a Mercyhurst program that’s still not eligible to compete in the NCAA tournament if they get through the conference field, and three spots a Le Moyne program that is also not eligible for the same reclassification to Division 1 reason. Kind of a mixed bag for the Vikings there after going 4-10 overall last year and 2-5 in NEC play.
With that in mind, their 0-3 start to the year isn’t terribly surprising. They nearly got shutout by Denver in the opener, falling behind 18-0 before a Will Adair goal early in the fourth quarter. They took a 4-2 lead on #10 Ohio State next time around going into the second quarter, but then trailed at halftime on their way to a 17-7 loss. That brings us to their most recent game, a 10-7 defeat at Bellarmine. The Knights took an early 3-0 lead before CSU bounced back and went up 7-5 with 3:09 left in the third quarter. They would not score again as Bellarmine scored the final five goals of the game, four before the clock got to 9 minutes left in the game.
It’s been a struggle to score goals to say the least, but Brennan Hickey is the leader there with four of Cleveland State’s 15 markers this season. He doesn’t have the points lead, as Adam Van Voorhis has three goals and a team best four assists to get to seven in the points column. The Vikings spread their shots out through this point of the year, with no one taking more than the 13 that both Hickey and Will Adair have managed.
Justin Dalum has been the starting netminder in all three Cleveland State games, but he hasn’t gone the distance in all three. He was pulled for the second half against Denver and then lifted with six minutes and change to go against Ohio State. That means he’s taken the bulk of the punishment this season, giving up 16.71 goals per 60 minutes and stopping less than 40% of shots on cage. If Marquette can manage four quarters like the first two quarters they had against both Michigan and Notre Dame, that feels like a winning situation for the Golden Eagles.
Keep the Denver and Bellarmine final scores in mind here, as Marquette will eventually play both of those teams this season.
Game #4: at Detroit Mercy Titans (1-2)
Date: Monday, February 23, 2026
Time: 11am Central
Location: Titan Field, Detroit, Michigan
Streaming: Doesn’t seem like it, sadly
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Marquette is 11-1 all time against Detroit Mercy. The Titans were the opponent for the first ever home game in MU history waaaaaay back in 2013. Marquette won that one 14-9 and that was the first of six straight wins against the Titans before they pulled off something of an upset (MU was earning votes at the time) in the Valley in 2019. It’s been all Golden Eagles since then with five straight wins, including 16-6 last year in Milwaukee.
Detroit Mercy is only 1-2 as of the time of this writing. By the time we get to Monday, their record will have changed, as they will play Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon. Since Cleveland State also played the Knights already and Marquette will see BU down the road, all of this combines to provide an interesting measuring stick for what the Golden Eagles are this year.
The Titans are also in the NEC, just like Cleveland State. They were picked to finish fourth in the league, one spot behind that Le Moyne squad that isn’t going to the NCAA tournament. Does that mean there’s a big gap between these two teams on Marquette’s docket this weekend? Probably not.
UDM got run over by the Ohio State that CSU tangled up for a moment, falling 19-3 in their opener. Next up was a loss to the Michigan team that beat Marquette 14-7, but I don’t think we can say that the Titans played them closer. Yes, the final was 11-7, but Michigan was up 6-0 late in the second quarter and 7-1 at intermission. Detroit Mercy scored four straight in the second quarter to get it to 9-6 but couldn’t get closer in the final seven minutes.
They are coming off a win, however, as the Titans beat Hampton 20-8 last weekend. UDM took off after halftime, as it was only 9-6 at the break. They scored all three goals in the third quarter, and after two from the Pirates to start the fourth, Detroit Mercy scored the final eight goals of the game to leave no doubt. Did they catch a break with three power play goals in the final seven minutes? Maybe!
Defending Detroit Mercy is an interesting problem. Marcus Thundercloud is the team leader in points thanks to his team high four assists to get to nine points. However, he’s being eclipsed in goals by both Andrew Parker (6) and PJ O’Hanlon (7). Those two are the top two shooters so far this year with 22 and 23 shots through three games respectively, so perhaps there has to be a lot of “head on a swivel” here.
Cooper St. Clair has played every minute in net so far this year. That means his goals-against average isn’t so hot at 12.67. He is stopping over 46% of shots on goal, which isn’t too bad at all, especially when you consider that the redshirt junior only stopped 42% of shots on frame in the opener against Ohio State.
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