Marquette University Athletics
Lacrosse faces Detroit Mercy on Saturday in Pontiac, Mich.
2/22/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 22, 2018
| 2018 Marquette Men's Lacrosse - Game 2 | |
| #19/rv Marquette (1-0) at Detroit Mercy (1-2) | |
| Date | Saturday, Feb. 24 | 12 p.m. CT |
| Location | Wisner Stadium | Pontiac, Mich. |
| Live Links | Live Stats | Watch Live |
| Social Media | Twitter  (in-game updates) | Facebook  | Instagram  |
| Materials | Game Notes  | Record Book |
| Tickets | $10 at the gate |
MILWAUKEE - The No. 19/rv Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads to Michigan for the first of three-straight games in the Great Lakes State with a noon Central time contest against Detroit Mercy on Saturday at Wisner Stadium in Pontiac, Michigan.
Tickets for the game can only be purchased at Wisner Stadium on Saturday for $10 with cash or by charge.
The Golden Eagles (1-0) enter the weekend on the heels of a thrilling 11-10 victory over Jacksonville in their season opener at Valley Fields on Saturday, Feb. 17. BIG EAST Conference Midfielder of the Week Connor McClelland led MU with a game-high four goals in his first career start, while junior attackman John Wagner posted a hat trick and two assists. Wagner's game winner with seven seconds remaining lifted Marquette past the Dolphins in a game it never trailed.
The Titans sit at 1-2 on the season after a 15-8 loss at Jacksonville on Tuesday evening. UDM trailed by just one, 9-8, entering the fourth quarter before JU pulled away for the win. Detroit also fell to then-No. 6 Notre Dame, 10-7, in its season opener and picked up an 8-7 overtime win on Sunday at Mercer.
Matthew Vangalen leads the Titans with eight points on four goals and four assists, while Brett Erskine and Brennan Kamish also each have four goals on the year. UDM has struggled through three games at the face-off dot, where it has won at just a 26.2 percent clip on the year (17-of-65).
Marquette, which is 5-0 all-time against UDM, captured last year's meeting 8-6 in Milwaukee as part of the Midwest Lacrosse Classic. Kyran Clarke and Andy DeMichiei each scored twice for MU, which posted a 34-27 edge in shots. Among returners in this year's matchup Wagner and Jack Zerrillo each scored once for MU, as did Vangalen and Patrick Walsh for UDM.
The Golden Eagles have just one Michigan native on their roster this season in junior Bob Pelton of Grand Rapids, though Wagner played at the Cranbrook-Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, which sits mere minutes from Wisner Stadium.
Following Saturday's game, Marquette will head back to Milwaukee for a few days before returning to Pontiac for the Midwest Lacrosse Classic on March 2-4 against Ohio State and Bellarmine. The Golden Eagles will also be back in the state to take on Michigan in Ann Arbor on March 17.
NEW FACES PRODUCE ON OFFENSE
- A number of individuals contributed in the season opener against Jacksonville for a Marquette squad that returned just one of its top seven and two of its top 11 scorers from last season. In addition to leading returning scorer John Wagner's five points, sophomore Connor McClelland scored four times in his first career start, while freshman Anthony Orsini scored twice in his NCAA debut. Senior SSDM Colin Riehl tallied his first career goal off a late first period faceoff and sophomore Peter Henkhaus scored after finding the back of the net just once during his freshman campaign. Also tallying their first career points were midfielders Colin O'Donnell, a redshirt freshman, and sophomore Ryan Fazio.
WAGNER IS LONE RETURNING STARTER ON OFFENSE
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
T. 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.
