WLAX Looking for Success on the Road at Detroit Mercy

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's lacrosse team heads back on the road this week for a mid-week matinee against the Detroit Mercy Titans.

Game time is set for noon Central time on Wednesday, March 11 and will be played at Titan Field in Detroit, Michigan. ESPN+ will have live streaming coverage while live stats can be found at DetroitTitans.com.

MU leads the all-time series, 5-0, against the Titans and most recently defeated them 22-9 at Valley Fields in 2019.

The Golden Eagles are coming off of a 1-1 week of play, including a convincing defeat of Central Michigan on Wednesday at the Valley, getting point contributions from 11 different players in a 19-9 win.

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.

MU staged an impressive comeback on Saturday against Ohio State but ultimately fell, 16-14. MU trailed 15-8 in the second half before a 5-0 run cut the deficit to just two goals.

Caroline Steller set a single-game career-high with five goals and Lydia Foust tallied her fifth hat trick in the past six games. OSU's Jill Rizzo made things difficult for the MU offense, however, saving a season-best 17 shots to hold off the Golden Eagles.

HOW TO FOLLOW:
Live stats for Wednesday's game can be found at DetroitTitans.com and live streaming will be available on ESPN+. Follow along on Twitter @MarquetteWLAX for live in-game updates.

GAME DETAILS
Marquette (5-4) at Detroit Mercy (1-6)
Titan Field
Detroit, Michigan
Wednesday, March 11
Noon CT
DetroitTitans.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 49-81 (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 15 and 35 points this season and its top six scorers have between 10 and 22 goals. Caroline Steller has been one of the most consistent performers, leading the team with 35 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 (5-4) 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.

DETROIT MERCY: Detroit Mercy is led by second-year head coach and class of 2013 alumnus Megan Callahan (started Sept. 4, 2018). She was an assistant coach for two years at UDM, helping the Titans to their first ever regular season title (shared) in 2018.

In her first season as a head coach in 2019, the team went 8-10 and fell in the SoCON semifinals to Furman to end the year. Kaitlyn Wandelt leads the team in scoring in 2020 with 12 goals and two assists but has played only four games. She's scored three, six and three goals in her past three games.

Kamryn Corraro ranks second on the team with 11 goals while three others have scored between six and eight goals. Kristina Ellis (six goals) leads the team with four assists. Starting goalie Maddie Johnson is 1-5 on the year with 34 saves and a .291 save percentage.

KEY STORYLINES:

MU is 0-3 in true road games this season.
MU's next win will be its 50^th all-time as a program.
The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series against Detroit, 5-0, including a 2-0 record on the road.
Caroline Steller ranks second in the BIG EAST in assists (14) and sixth in points (35).
Emily Cooper ranks second in the BIG EAST in draw controls (53).
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 took over as MU's No. 1 saves leader all-time after saving five shots against OSU on Saturday. She has 428 career saves, passing Sarah Priem '16 (426).

REGULAR SEASON HAS REACHED THE HALFWAY POINT
• The Golden Eagles have hit the halfway point of the regular season, playing nine of their eighteen regular season games in the last 30 days.
• MU is 4-1 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 35 points, but seven players have scored betweeen 10 and 22 goals in 2020.
• 2019 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Shea Garcia ranks third on the team with 18 goals this season, and another freshman has stepped up to the plate in 2020 (Hannah Greving, 14 goals).
• The Golden Eagles have tallied 186 points as a team so far this season. If they keep up the pace, they're on track for 372 points, which would be No. 1 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 is in 9th all-time in caused turnovers (47) in her career.
• Emily Cooper is tied for No. 5 all-time in draw controls at MU (77).
• Jules Horning (428 career saves) overtook Sarah Priem '16 (426) for the school record.
• Jules Horning is in second place all-time at MU for career ground balls (128).

FOUST, GREVING, STELLER EARN WEEKLY AWARDS
• Greving was the steady scorer for the Golden Eagles two weeks back, 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, being named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week.
• 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.
• Lydia Foust earned BIG EAST Honorable Mention after scoring eight goals and dishing out two assists in two games last week. She had her first ever five-goal game against CMU (March 4).

MARQUETTE HAS A "JULE" IN NET
• The four-year starter and Berwyn, Pa., native ranks first all-time in MU history in wins (23), saves per game (7.76) and saves (428).
• 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 3-3 with a .421 save percentage and 52 saves. She became the school's all-time career saves leader after saving five shots against Ohio State on March 7.

CAROLINE HAVING STELLER 2020 SEASON
• Junior Caroline Steller enjoyed a solid sophomore season in which she scored 15 goals and dished out two assists. She played in all 18 games and started three.
• So far in 2020, Steller already has 35 points (21g, 14a), which leads the team. She ranks sixth in the BIG EAST in points so far this year and second in assists.
• "Steller has really worked on building her connections with her teammates and they just love to play with her," Fifield said.
• 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.

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).