MU's Comeback Falls Short Against Buckeyes

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's lacrosse team fell to Ohio State, 16-14, on Saturday afternoon at Valley Fields.

After going up 2-0 early, the Golden Eagles (5-4) fell behind by as many as seven goals before rallying back midway through the second half to cut a 15-8 deficit to 15-13. MU was held scoreless the last 5:50 of the game as it tried to get back in the game but ultimately ran out of time.

"Overall, I thought we did a lot of great things today, but we just needed to step up our offense a little bit sooner," MU head coach Meredith Black said. "We had good looks at the net all game, we just couldn't get the ball past her [Ohio State goalie Jill Rizzo] enough to come up with the win. She had 17 saves, so credit to her for playing a great game."

Reigning BIG EAST Attacker of the Week Caroline Steller led the way with a career-high five goals for MU. Lydia Foust netted her fifth hat trick in the past six games while Megan Menzuber and Shea Garcia added two goals apiece.

Today's contest proved to be a game of runs as OSU (5-3) scored seven straight goals after trailing 2-0 early. The two teams exchanged blows for the rest of the first half and the Buckeyes led 12-7 after the first 30 minutes.

After a 3-1 OSU run to begin the second half, MU went on a 5-0 run led by a pair of goals by Steller before falling just short.

"We made some adjustments going into the locker room at halftime that helped us get the ball moving," Steller said. "We just have to cut down on the silly mistakes and try to bounce back from this loss on Wednesday."

Liza Hernandez and Nicole Ferrara led the Buckeyes with four goals apiece while three others scored two. Jill Rizzo had 17 saves in net to keep the MU offense at bay.

RECORD WATCH:
-Jules Horning saved five shots today to officially become the all-time saves leader in program history (428). She passed Sarah Priem ('16) who saved 426 career shots at MU.
-The next win for the Golden Eagles will be Meredith Black's 50th career win at the helm of the program.

UP NEXT:
Marquette travels to Detroit Mercy on Wednesday, March 11 for its next game. The start time is set for noon Central time and streaming will be available on ESPN+.

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).