Lacrosse heads to Michigan to face the Wolverines on Wednesday

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the University of Michigan on Wednesday, March 11 at U-M Lacrosse Stadium.

Opening face-off is slated for 3 p.m. Central time (4 p.m. local) and the game will air live on BTN+. Live statistics will also be available through MGoBlue.com and updates will be provided via @MarquetteMLAX on Twitter.

GAME DETAILS
Marquette (3-3) at Michigan (3-3)
U-M Lacrosse Stadium (Ann Arbor)
Wednesday, March 11 at 3 p.m. CT
TICKETS

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

MARQUETTE (3-3): The Golden Eagles led 10-9 with four minutes remaining in Saturday's game against Robert Morris, but fell 11-10 on a RMU goal with four seconds left. Junior goalie Gabe Stein made a career-high 13 saves in his first start of the season, while Holden Patterson and Peter Henkhaus each scored twice for the Golden Eagles. The Colonials won 16-of-25 face-offs and out-shot MU, 42-32. Freshman Chris Kirschner pushed his goal-scoring streak to six games to begin his career and now leads the squad with 14 goals and 18 points. Marquette has now lost two in a row after beginning the season with a pair of victories.

MICHIGAN (3-3): The Wolverines own victories over Cleveland State, Canisius and St. John's, but fell 17-11 to then-No. 5 Yale on Saturday night in California. Josh Zawada leads Michigan with 28 points on 14 goals and 14 assists, while Bryce Clay tops the squad with 19 goals. Clay and Sutherland each had hat tricks against the Bulldogs and U-M held a 47-43 edge in shots but won just 3-of-30 face-offs. Michigan head coach Kevin Conry is in his third season leading the Wolverines.

KEY STORYLINES:

Saturday's game marks the 112th contest in the history of Marquette men's lacrosse, which played its first games in the spring of 2013. MU is 55-56 all-time in its eighth season of competition.
Marquette defeated Michigan, 16-13, in the last meeting between the two programs on March 16, 2019 in Milwaukee as then-senior Tanner Thomson scored five goals for MU.
Last year's victory over Michigan was the 50th overall win in Marquette program history.
Then-junior Jared Hershman set new Marquette program records for face-off wins (22) and ground balls (21) against U-M in 2019.
Michigan topped MU, 12-7, in the only other regular season meeting between the two squads in 2018 in Ann Arbor.
MU posted a program-record 18 goals at Detroit Mercy on Feb. 22.
Freshmen and sophomores combined for 10 of MU's 11 goals at Drexel on Feb. 29.
MU is starting four freshmen and eight are playing significant minutes.
MU is replacing 57.6 percent of its scoring (87-of-151) from 2019.
Marquette returns just four starters from last year's team and lost three 20-goal scorers, three starting close defensemen and the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year at LSM

SERIES HISTORY: Tied 1-1
U-M leads 1-0 in Ann Arbor
3/17/18 (A) L, 12-7
3/12/19 (A) W, 17-15

CAREER VERSUS U-M NOTABLES:

Luke Anderson: 2 GP, 3 gb
Ryan Fazio: 2 GP, 2g, 2a, 2 gb
Peter Henkhaus: 2 GP, 3g, 1a, 2 gb
Jared Hershman: 2 GP, 29-of-44 FO (.659), 23 gb
John Hulsman: 1 GS, 7 saves, 13 ga, 59:53

ALL-FRESHMAN ATTACK UNIT LIFTS MU OFFENSE

Marquette is the only team in the country that has started three freshmen on attack at once and its unit of Chris Kirschner (14 goals, 4 assists), Jake Stegman (5 goals, 9 assists) and Devon Cowan (7 goal, 5 assists) are the team's top three point producers.
Marquette rolled out a starting attack unit of three freshmen at Detroit Mercy on Feb. 22 and proceeded to set a new program record with 18 goals. Kirschner, who played as a reserve midfielder the first three games, posted his second-straight hat trick and added his first goal of the year. Kirschner was joined up front by Stegman, who scored the first two goals of his collegiate career, and Cowan, who scored once.
Marquette has been reliant on a large contingent of freshman early this season. Cowan and Mason Woodward have started all six games, while Kirschner, Stegman, Max Kruszeski and Jack Cleary have impressed in extended time. Noah Verlinde made his NCAA debut on defense in the fourth quarter at UDM, as did Aidan O'Donnell at LSM.

WOODWARD IMPRESSIVE ON CLOSE DEFENSE

Freshman Mason Woodward has big shoes to fill as the Golden Eagles look to replace three starting close defensemen and the 2019 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in LSM Noah Richard. The Towson, Maryland native was especially impressive in his NCAA debut, posting eight ground balls while causing three turnovers at Cleveland State on Feb. 1. His eight ground balls tie the freshman single-game record, with 2019 MLL Defensive Player of the Year Liam Byrnes, and is the most ever for a player in a Marquette debut. It is also the highest mark for a true freshman in program history.

STEGMAN NAMED BIG EAST FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Jake Stegman earned the first BIG EAST weekly accolades of his career for his play at Drexel on Feb. 29 with the league's freshman of the week honors. The Naperville, Illinois native scored twice and added four assists, just one shy of the MU single-game program record. He came up one point short of the MU freshman single-game point record with six (Conor Gately had seven against Mercer on March 12, 2013).
Stegman leads MU with nine assists and is second on the squad through six games with 14 points.

KIRSCHNER LEADS MU IN SCORING

Freshman Chris Kirschner became the first player in program history to open his career with at least two goals in his first five collegiate games. He's one of seven MU players to ever score at least twice in five-straight games and has posted a goal in all six collegiate games.
Kirschner joins Tyler Melnyk (2014), Ryan McNamara (2016) and John Wagner (2018) as the only MU players with hat tricks in three consecutive games.
He joined classmate Devan Cowan as a multiple goal scorer in his NCAA debut at Cleveland State and scored the overtime winner just 25 seconds into extra time on an empty net against a 10-man ride.
He and Cowan are just the third and fourth freshmen to ever score twice in their Marquette freshman debuts (Anthony Orsini (2018) and Connor Bernal (2013)).
He's tied with Orsini for MU's active career lead in game winners (2 – just eight players in program history have scored three in a career). He did it in each of his first two college games.
He was honored as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Feb. 17 for the first time in his career thanks to his hat trick against JU.

STEIN MAKES FIRST START OF 2020 AGAINST RMU

The Golden Eagles made a change in net for the March 7 game against Robert Morris and junior Gabe Stein responded with a career-high 13 saves in his first start of the year. The Sherman, Connecticut native also started once as a sophomore against Ohio State in 2019 and posted five saves. Stein was ranked as the No. 94 recruit in the class of 2017 by Inside Lacrosse.

MARQUETTE TO APPEAR TWICE ON NATIONAL TV IN APRIL

Marquette will appear twice on national TV in the month of April, beginning with the Tuesday, April 7 home game against Notre Dame at 3:30 p.m. Central time. That contest will air live on CBS Sports Network, while the Friday, April 24 BIG EAST finale at Denver will appear on FS1 at 8:30 p.m. CT.
MU will also make an appearance on the BIG EAST Digital Network against St. John's on April 4 in Queens, New York.

STIMMEL WINS NCAA HEAD COACHING DEBUT

The Golden Eagles gave first-year head coach Andrew Stimmel his first NCAA Division I head coaching victory with a 11-10 overtime triumph at Cleveland State on Feb. 1. Stimmel was an assistant coach on Marquette's first BIG EAST Championship and NCAA tournament team in 2016. He returned to Milwaukee in June 2019 following three very successful seasons as offensive coordinator at Yale, which included the 2018 NCAA National Championship and a national runner-up finish in 2019.

COWAN SETS MARQUETTE FRESHMAN DEBUT RECORD

Freshman Devon Cowan kicked off his NCAA career in impressive fashion at Cleveland State on Feb. 1 while posting a game-high five points with three goals and two assists. Cowan's point total is the most ever at Marquette for a freshman in a NCAA debut and tied graduate transfer Jordan Greenfield for the most points in a MU debut (3g, 2a at Lehigh in 2015). His hat trick is also the first ever for a MU player in a NCAA debut.

GOLDEN EAGLES EXCEL IN THE CLASSROOM IN FALL OF 2019

The men's lacrosse team posted its highest cumulative semester grade-point average (3.24) in program history during the fall of 2019 and 46 individuals were named to the Athletics Director Honor Roll for GPAs at-or-above 3.0. Three student-athletes, Dylan Dobrosky, Devon Cowan and Mason Woodward each recorded perfect 4.0s.

ANDERSON SET MU SINGLE-SEASON SSDM SCORING MARKS

Defensive midfielder Luke Anderson stepped up in a big way for the Golden Eagles on both ends of the field last season and should make a run at all-conference honors this year. In addition to being MU's top short stick D-mid, the 6-foot-3 210-pounder scored nine goals and posted three assists in 2019. Those goal (9) and point (12) totals are the highest single-season marks ever for a defensive midfielder at MU. Both marks top the previous high of four goals and seven points recorded by current assistant coach Jacob Richard during the 2015 campaign.

FORMER GOLDEN EAGLES FLOURISH IN PRO LACROSSE

The player development of the Marquette program was on full display in the professional lacrosse ranks during 2019.
Liam Byrnes ('16) was named the Major League Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Year, while John Wagner ('19) earned an MLL title playing with the Chesapeake Bayhawks. Wagner squared off against Zachary Melillo ('18) and the Denver Outlaws in the championship game. Tanner Thomson ('19) and Cole Blazer ('18) each also made their pro debuts in the MLL during the summer of 2019 and Ryan McNamara ('17) continued his high-scoring ways with the Dallas Rattlers.
In the PLL, Noah Richard ('19) was selected 14th overall by Atlas LC in the third round of the inaugural PLL Collegiate Draft and had a successful rookie campaign alongside his brother and Marquette assistant coach, Jacob Richard ('16). Noah Richard was picked by Waterdogs LC in the PLL Expansion Draft in early February.
Wagner (New York Riptide) and Thomson (Saskatchewan Rush) were each also selected in the 2019 National League Lacrosse draft and Liam Byrnes plays for the Philadelphia Wings.
Brendon Connolly (Chesapeake Bayhawks) and Tanner Thomson (Philadelphia Barrage) were each selected in the MLL Supplemental Draft on March 4.

MU FACES ANOTHER CHALLENGING SLATE IN 2020

The Golden Eagles will face five teams ranked in the USILA's preseason top-20 poll, including their annual non-conference matchups against No. 5 Duke and No. 7 Notre Dame. Two others were also receiving votes.
MU also opened the year with scrimmages at No. 11 Johns Hopkins, No. 12 Ohio State and against Richmond, a team receiving votes.