Marquette University Athletics
Lacrosse hosts Jacksonville on Saturday at noon
2/15/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 15, 2018
| 2018 Marquette Men's Lacrosse - Game 1 | |
| Marquette (0-0) vs. Jacksonville (1-1) | |
| Date | Saturday, Feb. 17 | 12 p.m. CT |
| Location | Valley Fields | Milwaukee |
| Live Links | | Watch Live |
| Social Media | Twitter  (in-game updates) | Facebook  | Instagram  |
| Materials | Game Notes  | Record Book |
| Tickets | Purchase now |
| Promotion | Free schedule poster (all fans) |
MILWAUKEE - The No. 17/20 Marquette University men's lacrosse team begins its regular season on Saturday, Feb. 17 against Jacksonville in the Valley Fields seasonal dome at noon Central time.
The contest will air live on GoMarquette.com and the CBS SportsLive application with a broadcast produced by the Marquette Wire, MU's student-run media organization. Live statistics will also be provided through Gametracker.
Individual game tickets for Saturday can be purchased through the Marquette Ticket Office at the cost of $5 for adults and $3 for youth (12 and under). Fans should purchase their tickets in advance as the capacity inside the Valley Fields dome is 500. Visit GoMarquette.com/Tickets or call (414) 288-4668 for more information.
The Golden Eagles return four starters from their 2017 BIG EAST tournament championship roster, including All-BIG EAST Preseason Team selections in goalie Cole Blazer and defenseman Nick Grill. MU also returns All-BIG EAST face-off specialist Zachary Melillo and attackman John Wagner, who finished last season second on the squad with 22 goals.
Marquette earned the BIG EAST Conference's automatic bid to last year's NCAA tournament with wins over then-No. 2 Denver and Providence in the league tournament. MU fell to Notre Dame in the NCAA First Round, 15-9, in its second NCAA berth in as many years.
Over the past three weekends, the Golden Eagles scrimmaged Cleveland State, Wittenberg, Johns Hopkins and Penn in preparation for their sixth season of competition.
Jacksonville (1-1) began its year with a 12-7 win over Navy on Feb. 4 and a 19-8 loss to Duke on Feb. 10. Senior face-off specialist Hunter Forbes pushed the Dolphins to victory against the Midshipmen by going 19-of-22 at the dot and picking up a game-high 13 ground balls. Forbes, the reigning Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week, sits second nationally in face-off winning percentage (.740) and ground balls per contest (10.00).
JU is led offensively by junior Eric Applegate's eight points on six goals and two assists, while sophomore Dwayne Mattushik had a career-best five against Navy as the Dolphins held a 42-15 advantage in shots.
Marquette's dominant 17-1 season-opening victory at Jacksonville last season featured 14 different goal scorers, including eight players registering their first career tallies. MU head coach Joe Amplo pulled most of his starters after taking an 11-0 lead through three quarters of action to allow his younger players to get extended time. The Golden Eagles outscored JU, 6-1, in the fourth quarter, led by a pair of goals from then-freshman Dylan Dobrosky in his first career game.
The win over the Dolphins also set new program records for goals scored (17) and fewest allowed (1) in a single contest. MU later tied the goals scored record against St. John's on April 2017.
Marquette has won each of the last two meetings with JU in 2015 and 2017 and the all-time series is knotted, 2-2.
Following Saturday's game, Marquette will head to Michigan for the first of two straight weekends in the Great Lakes State. MU will face Detroit Mercy on Feb. 24 at Wisner Stadium in Pontiac before returning for the Midwest Lacrosse Classic on March 2-4 against Ohio State and Bellarmine.
MU CLAIMED SECOND STRAIGHT BIG EAST TITLE
- Marquette won its second BIG EAST Conference tournament crown in 2017 with a 10-9 victory over Providence, following an 11-8 semifinal win over No. 2 Denver. Goalie Cole Blazer was named the championship's most outstanding player after making 23 saves in the two games, while then seniors Grant Preisler, Nick Eufrasio and Joe Dunn joined Blazer on the all-tournament squad. The Golden Eagles entered the weekend as the league's No. 4 seed and picked off the top-ranked Pioneers and third-seeded Friars to claim the league's automatic NCAA bid for the second consecutive year. Preisler posted a team-best seven points over the course of the tournament, while then-sophomore John Wagner played a big part in the semifinal win over Denver with a game-best four goals. It was the first time the four seed had claimed the tournament title.
BLAZER SECURES THE CREASE
- Goalie Cole Blazer continued his stellar play in net during his first full campaign as MU's starter in 2017, culminating in BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player honors. The junior made a total of 23 saves in the wins over No. 2 Denver and Providence and also contributed to his own cause with a goal as time expired against the Pioneers in the semifinals. He posted a .521 save percentage as a junior with a 9.17 goals against average.
- He was named to the 2018 All-BIG EAST Preseason Team, is a two-time All-BIG EAST Second Team selection and has also been selected to the All-BIG EAST Championship team as MU won titles in 2016 and 2017.
- Blazer, a mechanical engineering major, hails from Libertyville, Illinois, which sits 55 miles to the south of Milwaukee down I-94 just across the Wisconsin-Illinois border.
DEFENSE RETURNS MOST OF 2017 PRODUCTION
- A strong defensive unit has been the hallmark of Marquette squads under head coach Joe Amplo and is expected to be a formidable group once again in 2018. In addition to senior goalie Cole Blazer, the Golden Eagles return a pair of 16-game starters at close defense in fellow All-BIG EAST Preseason Team selection Nick Grill and junior Jackson Ehlert. Brendon Connolly, who played in 15 games last season at LSM slides down to take the third spot vacated by the graduation of multi-year starter Nick Eufrasio. Noah Richard and Colin Riehl also return after playing in all 16 games last season at LSM and SSDM, respectively, and will join the face-off unit on the wings with MU's all-time face-off leader Zachary Melillo.
TWO FORMER WISCONSIN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS ON MU ROSTER
- For the first time Marquette has a pair of players on its roster who played lacrosse in the state of Wisconsin in Jordan Schmid (Waukesha, Wis./Kettle Moraine H.S.) and Moey Lardy (Cedarburg, Wis./Cedarburg). Schmid, who will redshirt the 2018 season after suffering a knee injury in the fall, helped Kettle Moraine to a pair of state titles as junior and senior, and posted 120 goals and 232 points in 71 games over his final three seasons. Lardy, whose parents now live in California, spent his first two years of high school in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and played with the Amplify Lacrosse Club. Either would be the first Wisconsinite to play for Marquette when they make their debut, as the only other player from the state to ever appear on the MU roster was Ryan Condon (Wausau, Wis.) in 2013, who never played for the Golden Eagles.
WAGNER IS LONE RETURNING STARTER ON OFFENSE
- Marquette returns just one of its top seven and two of its top 11 scorers from last season, led by junior John Wagner. Wagner tied for second on the team with 22 goals as a sophomore, and despite posting just three assists, will be relied upon to facilitate more as a junior. The St. Davids, Ontario native posted a combined six goals against Denver last season, including a career-high four in the BIG EAST semis, and a total of five at Notre Dame with a hat trick in the 2017 NCAA First Round.
- Wagner experienced an up-and-down freshman season in 2016, playing in all 16 games, but scoring in just two of them. The Canadian carved out a more prominent role on the first line as a sophomore and had an eight-game scoring streak that was snapped against Duke on April 22.
MELILLO LEADS FACE-OFF UNIT
- Senior faceoff specialist Zachary Melillo was called the 2016 team MVP by head coach Joe Amplo because of what his presence at the face-off X meant to the entire Marquette squad. The Warren, New Jersey native went on to set the MU career face-off win record in just his first season with 178 victories. That 56.2 percent clip ranked him 21st in the nation and helped him earn All-BIG EAST Second Team accolades.
- Melillo holds a career 54.2 percent mark at the dot and tied his own MU record in the Golden Eagles' NCAA tournament game at Notre Dame last season with 19 wins. His work against Denver's Trevor Baptiste in the last two BIG EAST Championships paved the way for MU's two league tournament crowns.
Tanner Thomson TO REDSHIRT 2018
- Senior Tanner Thomson will redshirt the 2018 season, it was announced prior to the start of spring scrimmages. The 2017 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection is MU's returning scoring leader with 39 goals and 55 points in 38 career games and tallied 20 goals and added 14 assists as a junior in 2017. The native of Toronto ranks seventh in Marquette history in both points (55) and goals (39) and started all 16 games as a junior. He also earned All-BIG EAST Championship Team honors in 2016 and his brother Tanner is a freshman attackman on the MU roster.
HERSHMAN ON PUERTO RICO NATIONAL TEAM
- Sophomore faceoff specialist Jared Hershman was announced as a member of Puerto Rico's Men's National Team for the 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Netanya, Israel on July 12-21. He is one of 23 members of the active roster, along with nine alternates, and joins University of Tampa's Alex Patton as the lone face-off specialists. Puerto Rico gained membership to the FIL a little over a year ago and whittled its first-ever team from 80 eligible players following player assessment camps, tournament play and a two-day tryout.
- Hershman appeared in five games for the Golden Eagles during his freshman season at the face-off position, going 3-for-11 including two faceoff wins against No. 20 Ohio State.
MARQUETTE ALUMNI HAVING PRO LACROSSE SUCCESS
- Seven recent Marquette student-athletes have found success in Major League Lacrosse since their days in Blue and Gold. Defensemen Liam Byrnes ('16) and B.J. Grill ('16) each finished up their second seasons in the MLL in 2017, as did current MU assistant coach Jacob Richard ('16), who was traded to the Charlotte Hounds during the offseason. Classmate Conor Gately ('16) was selected in the 2017 MLL Supplemental Draft and concluded his rookie season with the Rochester Rattlers alongside Ryan McNamara ('17). Andy DeMichiei ('17) and Jordan Greenfield ('15) were each selected in the 2018 MLL Supplemental Draft by the Florida Launch and Boston Cannons, respectively.
NEW SEASONAL DOME AT VALLEY FIELDS; AHPRC TO BREAK GROUND MARCH 6
- Marquette's seasonal dome over the FieldTurf Revolution 360 surface at Valley Fields provides a climate-controlled practice and game facility for the Golden Eagles during the winter months. The Golden Eagles played all their home games at Valley Fields for the first time in 2016, after making the move in towards campus from Hart Park in Wauwatosa, where they had played during their first three seasons.
- MU will also officially break ground for its new Athletic and Human Performance Research Center at a ceremony Tuesday, March 6, at 11:30 a.m. The event will take place at the project site, located on the southwest corner of West Wells and 12th streets, across from the Al McGuire Center.
The $24 million, 46,000-square-foot AHPRC will be built in phases under a long-term master plan. The first phase will include:
- Space for faculty researchers who work in a wide variety of academic fields.
- Locker rooms and support space for the lacrosse programs and golf team.
- Additional strength and conditioning spaces for the athletic department and a centralized core of laboratories for conducting human performance research.
MARQUETTE HAD HISTORIC 2016 CAMPAIGN
- The 2016 season was a historic one for the Marquette men's lacrosse program, which captured its first BIG EAST Conference tournament championship and hosted the first-ever NCAA playoff game in Wisconsin. MU's automatic NCAA berth came in just its fourth season of competition and its third as a BIG EAST member after playing the 2013 campaign as an independent. The Golden Eagles claimed the NCAA bid by defeating then-No. 1 Denver, 10-9, in the BIG EAST title game to snap the Pioneers' NCAA-best 22-game home winning streak. 2016 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Liam Byrnes led the charge for Marquette and was named the tournament's most outstanding player after leading MU to victories over then-No. 16 Villanova and the Pios.
