WLAX Set to Take on Oregon and Kent State

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's lacrosse team continues its 2021 season with a two-game stretch this weekend against Oregon and Kent State.

Friday's game is set for 7:30 p.m. Central time at Valley Fields and the game will be streamed on GoMarquette.com. Sunday's game will be on the road at Kent State. KentStateSports.com will stream this game live at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday.

The Golden Eagles (0-2) added Friday's game against Oregon to their schedule after UO's previously scheduled game against Notre Dame was canceled due to COVID-19 issues in UND's program. The KSU game was pushed back from Saturday to Sunday to accommodate the schedule addition.

MU has never played Oregon or Kent State.

The Golden Eagles have lost their first two games at Cincinnati (20-19) and Central Michigan (11-10) by one goal. Redshirt senior Megan Menzuber leads the team with 11 points (seven goals, four assists) while Lydia Foust is right on her heels with eight (six goals, two assists).

MU has split goaltending duties this year with Sophia Leva (0-1, 13.00 GAA, .552 SV%) and Jules Horning (0-1, 18.00 GAA, .182 SV%) each playing one half of each game.

HOW TO FOLLOW:
Live stats and streaming for Friday's game can be found at GoMarquette.com, while Sunday's stream will be on KentStateSports.com. Follow along on Twitter @MarquetteWLAX for live in-game updates.

GAME 1 DETAILS
Marquette (0-2, 0-0 BIG EAST) vs. Oregon (0-2, 0-0 Pac-12)
Milwaukee, Wis.
Valley Fields
Friday, Feb. 26
7:30 p.m. CT
GoMarquette.com

GAME 2 DETAILS
Marquette (0-2, 0-0 BIG EAST) at Kent State (0-1, 0-0 MAC)
Kent, Ohio
Dix Stadium
Sunday, Feb. 28
11 a.m. CT
KentStateSports.com

MARQUETTE: The Golden Eagles are in their ninth season in program history in 2020 under head coach Meredith Black. MU is 50-83 (19-25 BIG EAST) all-time.

So far in 2021, MU has started the season 0-2 after two one-goal losses at Cincinnati (20-19) and Central Michigan (11-10). The Golden Eagles are once again characterized by a balanced attack with seven different players scoring multiple goals so far this season. MU will be looking to get back on track after two heartbreaking losses and avoid its first 0-3 start since 2017.

Prior to this year, MU had been coming off the best three-year run in program history from 2018-20. MU went 6-4 in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the season before BIG EAST play began.

The Golden Eagles had perhaps their 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. In 2018 ,MU went 10-8 (6-3 BIG EAST), going above .500 for the first time in Coach Black's tenure.

11 of MU's top 12 scorers from last year are back this year, including 2020 leading point-getter Caroline Steller, who finished with 23 goals and a team-best 17 assists. Leading goal-scorer Lydia Foust, who broke out with 25 goals last season, returns for her junior year to anchor the midfield group.

OREGON: Oregon is led by head coach Chelsea Hoffmann, who was named the third head coach in Oregon lacrosse history on August 1, 2018, after a highly successful four-year stint as an assistant coach at Pac-12 rival Stanford. So far she is 5-21 at UO from 2019-21.

The Ducks are led by Hannah Hilcoff (4 goals) and Shonly Wallace (2 goals), who were the only pair of Pac-12 teammates to score 20 goals each during the shortened 2020 season.

UO fell to San Diego State (11-9) and UC Davis (20-9) in its first two games of 2021.

KENT STATE: Kent State is led by third-year head coach Brianne Tierney, who started the program from scratch in 2018. The 2019 season was KSU's first as a program. Tierney is 2-22 in her two-plus seasons as head coach there.

The Flashes return their all-time leading goal scorer, Abby Jones, who was named to the All-ASUN First Team as a freshman after totaling 52 points. Jones led the Flashes in goals, assists and draw controls.

KSU returns every player that recoded a point last year. The Flashes lost their first game of 2021, 20-11, to Fresno State.

KEY STORYLINES:

The Golden Eagles are looking forward to their first ever matchups against Oregon and Kent State in women's lacrosse.
MU is 3-5 all-time competing in home openers at Valley Fields. It beat Cincinnati 17-6 to kick off the 2020 home slate.
MU is looking to bounce back from one goal losses to Cincinnati (20-19) and Central Michigan (11-10) and avoid its first 0-3 start since 2017.
Marquette returns 10 starters and 35 players overall from last year's team.
The Golden Eagles brought in 10 incoming freshmen to make up the 45-person roster.
MU was picked to finish fifth in the Preseason BIG EAST Coaches Poll. Senior defender Jocelyn Miller and junior midfielder Lydia Foust were the team's two preseason all-conference picks.
MU's win against Detroit Mercy to end the 2020 season was its 50^th all-time as a program.
Megan Menzuber (134 points) is four points away from No. 5 all-time at MU (Amanda Bochniak, 2014-17, 138 points).
Senior goalie Sophia Leva is off to a red-hot start to the season. In two games she's tallied 16 saves and holds a .552 save percentage.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Marquette women's lacrosse team dropped an 11-10 decision to Central Michigan on Sunday afternoon.
• Lydia Foust tallied her second straight hat trick while Shea Garcia and Caroline Steller scored two goals apiece to lead the Golden Eagles (0-2, 0-0 BIG EAST). Megan Menzuber added a goal and an assist and Leigh Steiner and Emma Soccodato tallied a goal each for MU.
• MU cut a three-goal second half deficit to just one at 11-10 with goals from Leigh Steiner and Lydia Foust but couldn't tie the game as CMU controlled possession for most of the final three minutes and ran out the clock.

2020 REGULAR SEASON RECAP
• The Golden Eagles played 10 of their eighteen scheduled regular season games in 2020 due to the coronavirus cancelling the season on March 11.
• MU went 4-1 at Valley Fields, 1-3 in true road games and 1-0 in neutral site games.
• A balanced offensive attack has characterized the team last season. Caroline Steller led the team with 40 points (23G, 17 assists), but six other players tallied between 15 and 37 points.
• Sophomore Lydia Foust burst onto the scene in 2020, leading the team with 25 goals. In the last seven games of the year, she never scored less than two goals in a game. She also netted four hat tricks with one four-goal game and another five-goal game.
• The Golden Eagles tallied 221 points as a team last season and were on pace for nearly 400 points, which would have been No. 1 all-time in program history (364 is the school record).

MU PICKED FIFTH, FOUST AND MILLER NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST TEAM
• The BIG EAST Women's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll was announced in early February with 2019 regular-season champion Denver the unanimous favorite to win the crown in 2021. DU was followed by Georgetown (21), Villanova (15), UConn (13), Marquette (11) and Butler (5).
• The Golden Eagles had two players named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, the third year in a row MU has had multiple players selected. This year's selections were junior midfielder Lydia Foust and senior defender Jocelyn Miller. Foust, a Redwood City, Calif., native, appeared in all 10 games and started in six during her sophomore season in 2020, scoring a team-best 25 goals.
• A senior from Manorville, N.Y., Miller has been one of Marquette's top defenders since her freshman year in 2018. She's started in all 44 games of her career and was named First Team All-BIG EAST after the 2019 season.
• In her career, she's picked up 75 ground balls and caused 48 turnovers, which puts her at No. 10 all-time in school history in CT's. Miller was also named to the 2020 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, one of three team selections along with Shea Garcia and Madison Kane.

HENRY AND LEVA NAMED TEAM CAPTAINS FOR 2021
• Sophomore Ellie Henry and senior Sophia Leva have been named captains for the 2021 season.
• Ellie Henry burst onto the scene to become one of the team's top defenders in 2020, her first season as a full-time starter. She started all 10 games, earning 44 draw controls, picking up 12 GB's and causing seven turnovers.
• Goalie Sophia Leva rotated in net with MU all-time wins and saves leader Jules Horning. Leva ranks No. 3 all-time at MU in career saves (127) and No. 2 all-time in save % (.450).

GOLDEN EAGLES MOVING THEIR WAY UP THE RECORD BOOKS
• Megan Menzuber moved up to No. 6 all-time in points (134), No. 6 all-time in goals (94) and No. 5 in assists (40) after Sunday's game against Central Michigan. In her last three games, she's scored 14 goals and dished out seven assists.
• Madison Kane (22) and Caroline Steller (21) are in eighth and ninth all-time in career assists at Marquette.
• Jocelyn Miller is in 9th all-time in caused turnovers (50) in her career.
• Emily Cooper is No. 4 all-time in draw controls at MU (102).
• Jules Horning (433 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 (134).

MARQUETTE PLAYERS AMONG ACTIVE NCAA STATISTICAL LEADERS
• The Golden Eagles have several players who rank among NCAA statistical active leaders.
• Megan Menzber (94 goals) ranks No. 43 in the nation among active leaders.
• Jules Horning ranks No. 8 in career saves (433) and No. 12 in saves per game (7.10).
• Jules Horning ranks No. 14 in career ground balls (134).

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).