WLAX Readies for Ohio State on Saturday at the Valley

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's lacrosse program is set to take on its first of two Big Ten programs this year when Ohio State comes to town on Saturday.

Marquette (5-3) will look to stay unbeaten inside the Valley Fields dome while the Buckeyes search for their first win away from home of the season. OSU is 0-2 in true road games and 0-1 in neutral site games this year.

The Golden Eagles are coming off of a convincing defeat of Central Michigan on Wednesday at the Valley, getting point contributions from 11 different players in a 19-9 win.

MU has prided itself on a balanced scoring attack this season and it's seemingly been someone new that steps up every game.

On Wednesday, it was Hannah Greving and Lydia Foust who stole the show. Each set career-bests with five goals apiece and both had hat tricks in the first half.

Madison Kane tallied her first hat trick of the season as well while leading scorer Caroline Steller added two goals of her own.

HOW TO FOLLOW:
Live stats and live streaming will be available on GoMarquette.com. Patrick Reed will be on the call with play-by-play responsibilities while former MU women's lacrosse player Megan Bianco will be the color commentator. Follow along on Twitter @MarquetteWLAX for live in-game updates.

GAME DETAILS
Marquette (5-3) vs. Ohio State (4-3)
Valley Fields
Milwaukee, Wis.
Saturday, March 7
2.p.m. CT
GoMarquette.com

LIVE COVERAGE
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

MARQUETTE: The Golden Eagles are in their eighth season in program history in 2020 under head coach Meredith Black. MU is 49-80 (19-25 BIG EAST) all-time but is coming off its best season in school history in 2019. The Golden Eagles (9-9, 3-2 BIG EAST) finished second in the conference standings and hosted a BIG EAST tournament game at Valley Fields for the first time in program history.

Despite last year's success, Coach Black and company is tasked with replacing six starters, including four of the team's top five scorers from last season. Departed seniors Grace Gabriel, Cate Soccodato, Charlotte McGuire and Lindsey Willcocks combined to score 138 goals and dish out 65 assists in 2019.

MU has seven players who have registered between 14 and 30 points this season and its top six scorers have between 11 and 19 goals.Caroline Steller has been one of the most consistent performers, leading the team with 30 points. She was named BIG EAST Attacker of the Week on March 2 after posting six goals and three assists in two games last week.

The Golden Eagles (5-3) have dropped road games at No. 7/7 Notre Dame, Louisville and Arizona State, but have had success at home with wins coming at Valley Fields against Cincinnati, Canisius, Niagara and Central Michigan. MU also won a neutral site game against Fresno State. They've been sparked by a balanced scoring attack with seven players scoring between nine and 19 goals so far this season.

OHIO STATE: Ohio State is led by first-year head coach Amy Bokker, who came to OSU from Stanford, where she spent the past 11 years. She led the Cardinal to 8 NCAA tournament's and six conference titles while in Palo Alto.

The Buckeyes went 9-8 as a program last year, including a 1-5 record in the Big Ten. The program hasn't made it to the postseason since 2016 and its last NCAA tournament appearance came in 2015.

This year, OSU is led by senior attacker Liza Hernandez, who ranks first on the team in goals (14) and second in points (17). Junior Sophie Baez leads the team in both points (18) and assists (6).

Five Buckeyes have tallied double digit points on the season and 16 have gotten on the board overall. Senior goalie Jill Rizzo (4-2) is the team leader and a three-time captain.

KEY STORYLINES:

MU 0-1 all-time against Ohio State, losing 11-9 last year in Columbus.
MU's next win will be its 50^th all-time as a program.
The Golden Eagles are 16-4 in their last 19 home games at Valley Fields, including a perfect 3-0 record this season.
Emily Cooper ranks second in the BIG EAST in draw controls (49).
Megan Menzuber became the 10^th Golden Eagle in school history to hit the 100-point mark in her career. She did so with an assist against Niagara on Feb. 23.
Jules Horning is four saves away from taking over as MU's No. 1 saves leader all time. She has 423 saves in her career.

REGULAR SEASON HAS REACHED THE HALFWAY POINT
• The Golden Eagles have hit the halfway point of the regular season with their upcoming game against Ohio State on Saturday.
• MU is a perfect 4-0 at Valley Fields, 0-3 in true road games and 1-0 in neutral site games.
• A balanced offensive attack has characterized the team this season. Caroline Steller leads the team with 30 points, but six players have scored betweeen 10 and 19 goals in 2020.
• 2019 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Shea Garcia ranks second on the team with 16 goals this season, and another freshman has stepped up to the plate this year.
• The Golden Eagles have tallied 167 points as a team so far this season. If they keep up the pace, they're on track for 362 points, which would be No. 2 all-time in program history.

GOLDEN EAGLES MOVING THEIR WAY UP THE RECORD BOOKS
• Megan Menzuber moved to No. 7 all-time at MU in career goals (78) and No. 5 in assists (32) recently. She passed Claire Costanza (2013-17) in goals and Grace Gabriel (2016-19) and Allison Lane (2015-18) in assists.
• Madison Kane (21) and Caroline Steller (18) moved into eighth and ninth all-time in career assists at Marquette.
• Jocelyn Miller moved into a tie for 9th all-time in caused turnovers (46) in her career.
• Emily Cooper is seven away from moving up to No. 5 all-time in draw controls at MU (77).
• Jules Horning (423 career saves) is four away from beating Sarah Priem for the school record.
• Jules Horning is in second place all-time at MU for career ground balls (126).

GREVING AND STELLER EARN WEEKLY AWARDS
• Greving was the steady scorer for the Golden Eagles last week, going for a combined seven goals in a 2-1 week which included home wins over Canisius and Niagara.
• She scored her first two career goals at Louisville on Feb. 17 and two more against the Griffins on Feb. 21 before notching a hat trick against Niagara on Feb. 23.
• Steller won BIG EAST Attacker of the Week on March 2 after scoring six goals, dishing out three assists and picking up four ground balls in two games in Arizona.

MARQUETTE HAS A "JULE" IN NET
• The four-year starter and Berwyn, Pa., native ranks first all-time in MU history in wins (23) and saves per game (7.76) while placing second in saves (423).
• In 2018, Horning set the single-season program record with 153 saves. She tallied a career-high 19 saves at Georgetown (April 21), facing 37 shots on the evening. She posted seven double-digit save performances in 18 games.
• Last season, her best game came against then No. 24-ranked Georgetown again. She faced a career-high 49 shots and saved 18 of them in a 14-12 victory at Valley Fields.
• So far in 2020, Horning is 3-2 with a .421 save percentage and 47 saves. She's four saves away from being the all-time saves leader at Marquette.

DOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
• Marquette is 16-4 in its last 20 games inside the Valley Fields dome, including a 4-0 mark in 2020.
• Last year, MU went 4-3 at home, including a 14-12 win over then No. 24-ranked Georgetown to tally its first top-25 win in program history.
• The Golden Eagles shattered their previous record for home wins with an 8-1 campaign inside the dome in 2018. MU outscored their opponents at home, 151-105, with a scoring average of 16.78/game.

DRAW CONTROLS = RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
• MU improved its draw controls average from 8.65 draws per game in 2015 (last in the BIG EAST) to a whopping 14.56 in 2019, which ranked first in the league and 25th in the nation.
• Additionally, the Golden Eagles have boasted the BIG EAST's leader in draws per game in each of the past four seasons. Grace Gabriel did it for the fourth consecutive year after finishing 2019 with 119 draws (6.61 draws/game.).
• Junior Emily Cooper ranks second in the league with 49 draw controls in eight games and MU ranks second in the BIG EAST with 17.00 per game.
• Gabriel set the Marquette single-season record with 119 total draws last season, which put her No. 15 in the country in that category.
• "We're going to win games by winning a lot of draw controls and having that transition into a very balanced attack," Black said.

Keep up with the Marquette women's lacrosse program all season long through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteWLax) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWLax).