Lacrosse clashes with No. 3 Duke in ‘Battle at Bethpage’

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads to Long Island to face No. 3 Duke on Saturday, April 20 at 10 a.m. Central time at Bethpage High School.

The 'Battle at Bethpage VI' will air on a tape-delay basis in the New York metropolitan area on Verizon FiOS and live stats will be available on GoMarquette.com. Follow Marquette lacrosse's social media accounts (@MarquetteMLAX) on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, where a live video link will be shared if made available.

General admission tickets are $10 and children 12-and-under are $5 with proceeds from the game benefitting the Bethpage Educational Foundation, Inc. Attendees are also asked to bring two cans of food to help support Island Harvest as part of the "LAX Fights Hungers" initiative. To purchase tickets in advance, visit https://bethpageeducfoundation.weebly.com/.

Following the Holy Saturday contest, the Golden Eagles return to Milwaukee and close out their regular season on Friday, April 26 against No. 12/13 Denver. The game at Valley Fields will air live on FS1 at 8 p.m. Central time and Marquette is set to host a 'Rally in the Valley' pregame tailgate for all students and community members.

GAME DETAILS
"Battle at Bethpage"
Marquette (6-6) vs. Duke (10-3)
Bethpage High School Stadium (Bethpage, N.Y.)
Saturday, April 20 at 10 a.m. CT
TICKETS

LIVE COVERAGE
STATS | GAME NOTES (PDF) | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

MARQUETTE (6-6): The Golden Eagles fell 15-8 at Providence on April 20 after the Friars scored the first and last five goals of the contest. Ryan Fazio and John Wagner each scored twice in the defeat and Wagner reached career milestones of 70 goals and 100 points on his first goal. The Golden Eagles were outscored 10-2 in the first and fourth quarters as PC held a 22-11 shot advantage in those frames. MU has lost its last two contests at PC and Notre Dame, following a 12-8 victory over St. John's on April 6. Seniors Tanner Thomson and John Wagner lead MU with 35 and 31 points, respectively, while graduate student Andrew Romagnoli has 25 on 20 goals and five assists.

DUKE (10-3): The Blue Devils have defeated No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 4 Virginia in their last two games to move up to No. 3 in both polls. Following an early season upset to High Point, Duke reeled off a seven-game winning streak before an overtime loss at then-No. 12 Syracuse on March 24. Joe Robertson leads the squad with 48 points, and Brad Smith has 40 points on 20 goals and 20 assists. The Blue Devils are fifth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 8.85 goals per contest.

KEY STORYLINES:

Saturday's game marks the 104th in the history of Marquette men's lacrosse, which played its first games in the spring of 2013. MU is 52-51 all-time entering Saturday.
Marquette head coach Joe Amplo played for Duke head coach John Danowski at Hofstra and worked under him there as an assistant coach following graduation.
Amplo and Danowski won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2018 FIL World Championships last July in Netanya, Israel. Danowski served as the squad's head coach, while Amplo was an assistant.
Amplo and Danowski are both native Long Islanders. Amplo grew up 30 miles west of Bethpage High School in Farmingville, New York.
Marquette has two Long Island natives on its roster in Garrett Moya (Huntington) and James Amorosana (Manhasset).
MU is winless against Duke in six previous meetings and has been outscored 98-33 over the course of the series. An average Duke win of 16-6.
MU's closest game against the Blue Devils was a 11-7 loss to then-No. 4 Duke on April 22, 2017.
Duke has been ranked in the top six of the USILA poll in all but one meeting (2016) in series history.
John Wagner became third player in Marquette history to reach 100 career points and 70 goals with his first goal on April 13 at Providence.
Wagner's 16 assists in 2019 are a career-high and more than any Golden Eagle totaled during the entirety of the 2018 season. The single-season program record of 20 was set by Conor Gately as a freshman in 2013. Wagner is tied for Andy DeMichiei's 2017 total of 16 for the third-best single season mark.
Tanner Thomson became the fifth player in Marquette history to reach 60 career goals against St. John's on April 6. He joined Ryan McNamara (102), Conor Gately (77), Kyle Whitlow (70) and John Wagner (71) on the prestigious list. He currently has 65 in his career.
The Marquette program and head coach Joe Amplo captured their 50th victory all-time on March 16 against Michigan.

SERIES HISTORY: Duke leads 6-0
5/3/13 H             L, 19-3 (Hart Park)
5/11/14 A             L, 20-9
4/18/15 H L, 15-8 (Hart Park)
4/22/16                A L, 16-1
4/22/17                H             L, 11-7
4/20/18                A L, 17-5

CAREER VERSUS DUKE:

Luke Anderson: 1 GP, 2 gb, 1 ct
Brendon Connolly: 3 GP/1 GS, 4 gb, 1 ct
Griffin Fleming: 1 GP/1 GS, 2g, 4 gb
Nick Grill: 2 GP/2 GS, 3 gb. 1 ct
Noah Richard: 3 GP, 11 gb, 3 ct
Tanner Thomson: 2 GP/2 GS, 1g, 2a
John Wagner: 3 GP/2 GS, 1g

APRIL 26 NIGHT GAME AGAINST DENVER FEATURED ON FS1

The Friday, April 26 showdown with league favorite Denver at Valley Fields is scheduled for an 8 p.m. Central time faceoff on FS1. Marquette's BIG EAST opener at Georgetown also aired live on the BIG EAST Digital Network through FOX Sports Go.
The Golden Eagles will also host a pregame tailgate with a food, live music and a beer garden at the Shimek Track at Valley Fields prior to the game against the Pioneers. The event is open to all in the Milwaukee and Marquette communities and free to attend. Game tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance or at the entrance on game day.

GOLDEN EAGLES SET FOR TOUGH FINAL MONTH

The Golden Eagles are in the midst of a difficult schedule over the final month of the season, beginning with the March 23 game at then-No. 14 Georgetown. MU's annual midweek contest at then-No. 12 Notre Dame on April 10 is sandwiched by games against St. John's and Providence before Marquette closes the year with No. 3 Duke and No. 12 Denver.

WAGNER'S GOAL SCORING MATCHED BY ACADEMIC PROWESS

All-America candidate John Wagner has proven to be one of the most accomplished goal scorers in Marquette history, becoming just the fourth player to reach 30 goals in a single season last year. But his work in the classroom may be more impressive. The St. Davids, Ontario native is the reigning BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award winner for men's lacrosse and the first junior to win the award since 2010. He carries a 3.87 grade-point average in finance and private equity banking and is a member of Marquette's prestigious Applied Investment Management (AIM) Program. To participate in the program, Wagner was chosen by a panel of professionals to collectively manage over $2 million o MU's endowment across equity and fixed income securities.
He is a three-time member of the BIG EAST's All-Academic Team as well as a College of Business Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll designee. John has had the top GPA on the MU men's lacrosse roster for three semesters and is a national member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society.

ANDERSON STEPS UP IN JUNIOR SEASON

Defensive midfielder Luke Anderson has stepped up in a big way for the Golden Eagles on both ends of the field this season. The Lakeville, Minnesota native has been called one of the most athletic SSDMs in the country by head coach Joe Amplo and has shown his ability as a junior. In addition to being MU's top short stick D-mid, the 6-foot-3 210-pounder has scored nine goals and posted three assists in the first 12 games of 2019. Those goal (9) and point (12) totals are the highest single-season marks ever for a defensive midfielder at MU. Both totals top the previous high of four goals and seven points recorded by current assistant coach Jacob Richard during the 2015 campaign.

TANNER THOMSON RETURNS FROM REDSHIRT

Fifth-year senior Tanner Thomson sat out the 2018 campaign after turning in an All-BIG EAST Second Team year in 2017 as a true junior. Thomson was MU's returning scoring leader entering last season with 39 goals and 55 points in 38 career games. He tallied 20 goals and added 14 assists as a junior in 2017 and was an All-BIG EAST Championship Team selection in 2016. Thomson is also a top prospect for the National Lacrosse League.
Thomson became the fifth player in Marquette history to reach 60 career goals against St. John's on April 6. He joined Ryan McNamara (102), Conor Gately (77), Kyle Whitlow (70) and John Wagner (71) on the prestigious list. He currently has 65 in his career.
In the April 13 game at Providence, Thomson (90 points) surpassed Tyler Melynk's 89 career points, to rank fifth by himself in MU history. He passed Melnyk on against St. John's on April 6 to move into fifth all-time in goals (65 career goals).