Lacrosse holds off Bellarmine, 11-10, in home opener

Box Score (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team held off Bellarmine, 11-10, on Saturday afternoon in its home opener at Valley Fields.

The Golden Eagles (2-0) recorded a seven-goal first quarter and jumped out to an 8-0 lead, with a pair of early goals coming from sophomore Holden Patterson and senior Connor McClelland.

Sophomore face-off specialist Thomas Washington, who took 15 of the game's 23 draws for Marquette, scored his first career goal at the 10:47 mark of the first quarter to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 edge.

McClelland posted a game- and career-high six points on four goals and two assists in the victory, while Patterson notched two goals and an assist. Freshman midfielder Chris Kirschner, the hero of last week's overtime win at Cleveland State, scored two goals for the second week in a row.

Bellarmine (0-2) scored two goals in the final 1:20 of the contest and pulled within one following Brayden Brown's fourth goal with 46 seconds to play. A heads-up defensive play from Moey Lardy at the top of the box helped MU keep the Knights out of the net at the end of regulation, allowing MU to clear the ball and head coach Andrew Stimmel to call a timeout.

The victory was Stimmel's first home triumph at Valley Fields as a head coach. He faced another first-year head coach for the second week in a row in BU's Andrew Whitley. Last week, Stimmel and CSU's Andy German made their NCAA Division I head coaching debuts.

Marquette defeated Bellarmine, 15-9, at Valley Fields in the 2019 season opener as Patterson and Logan Kreinz each scored their first career goals last season and MU went 19-of-28 (.679) on faceoffs.

MU goalie John Hulsman played his freshman season at Bellarmine in 2018 and finished fourth in NCAA Division I in save percentage. He made six saves against his former squad last year and five on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles held a slim 33-32 advantage in shots and claimed 40 ground balls to 28 for Bellarmine.

Marquette continues action at home on Saturday, Feb. 15 against Jacksonville at noon Central time.

🗣 Responding to adversity, learning on the fly, and working through being a young team are a few of the take aways after today.

🦻Listen to what else @MUCoachStim has to say after his first ever Marquette win at Valley Fields! 🦅 pic.twitter.com/bblQTybDjA
— Marquette Lacrosse (@MarquetteMLax) February 8, 2020

🦻Take a listen to what No. 13 Connor McClelland has to say after pulling away the second win of the season at home for the squad! 🥍 pic.twitter.com/tuEoww7uNY
— Marquette Lacrosse (@MarquetteMLax) February 8, 2020

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