MLAX 2021 Season Preview: Offense

2/8/2021 5:41:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Experienced group hopes to lead MU offense

By: Dan Avington (COMM '22)

MILWAUKEE - Heading into the 2021 season, Marquette men's lacrosse returns almost the entire starting lineup from a season ago.

With MU's young roster now having a year under its belt, the Golden Eagles look to build on the progress of the 2020 season.

Head coach Andrew Stimmel enters his second season with the program, now with his opening season in the past, but it's a unique situation.

"I honestly think myself, our staff and our team are looking at the season as kind of the second half of our first season," Stimmel said.

Last year's season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it served as an important developmental season for a young Marquette roster. Entering this year, each of the position groups have become a bit more experienced.

"We feel like we're in a place where we understand what our offense and defensive personnel are going to look like," Stimmel said. "There's certainly a lot of room to compete for those spots for our guys, but there's definitely a different feeling on both sides of the ball from an experience standpoint."

Since the fall, Stimmel has noticed multiple members of his young team taking on leadership roles.

"Even coming back in the preseason, a lot of those younger guys really came in and took a leadership role, and that's been presented to them from the older guys," Stimmel said. "Those guys are ready for that next step and they've taken great ownership of that."

ATTACK
14   Jake Stegman (R-Fr.)
17   Keaton Thomson (R-Jr.)
18   Griffin Fleming (R-Jr.)
24   Morgan Macko (GS)
29   Devon Cowan (R-Fr.)
31   Russell Melendez (Fr.)
36   Brendan Alt (R-So.)
50   Dan Shay (R-Fr.)
71   Justin Mintzer (Fr.)
80   Hudson Thomson (Fr.)

Leading the way at attack for offensive coordinator Peet Poillon is a combination of veterans and young players.

Redshirt junior Griffin Fleming has worked his way back from a knee injury in the fall of 2019 that sidelined him for the 2020 season.

"Getting Griffin Fleming back from injury last year has been huge for us just from a leadership perspective," Stimmel said. "He's a guy that's played in some big games, he's scored some big goals over his career here, and we really think very highly of him in terms of what he can do for our team and our offense."

Returning starters Devon Cowan and Jake Stegman have resumed their high-level of play and will factor into the rotation as well, and graduate transfer Morgan Macko adds a veteran presence to the unit.

A freshman to watch out for is Russell Melendez, who Stimmel said has been impressive early in his collegiate career.

MIDFIELD
5   Tommy von den Benken (R-Sr.)
6   Ryan Fazio (GS)
8   Trevor Peay (R-So.)
9   Colin O'Donnell (R-Jr.)
10   Charlie DiGiacomo (Fr.)
12   Pierce Washburn (Fr.)
13   Connor McClelland (R-Sr.)
15   Griffin Fries (R-Fr.)
16   Ellison Burt-Murray (Fr.)
19   Garrett Moya (R-So.)
20   Michael Colpack (R-Fr.)
21   Patrick English (R-Fr.)
22   Anthony Orsini (R-Jr.)
23   Jack Nolan (Fr.)
28   Holden Patterson (R-So.)
35   Peter Henkhaus (GS)
39   Jordan Schmid (R-So.)
54   Chris Kirschner (R-Fr.)
55   Jordon Celeslie (Fr.)
66   Jett Leonard-Bedier (R-Fr.)

In the offensive midfield, Stimmel and his staff look to employ a deep rotation.

"We're really going to try to take a unique approach this year and play as many guys as we can," Stimmel said. "(We're trying to) create a lot of depth for us to be able to roll out, and that's a unique strength that we can have."

The midfield unit starts with a veteran group for the Golden Eagles consisting of players like Connor McClelland, Peter Henkhaus, Ryan Fazio and Anthony Orsini.

"Those guys have played through the midfield and saw some good minutes for us last year," Stimmel said. "A guy who's older that doesn't get enough attention is Colin O'Donnell. He's finally healthy, and he's really had a great year, and it hasn't just been on the field, it's been a leadership thing."

Chris Kirschner, MU's leading scorer last season, and Griffin Fries are two younger players who will see time out of the box for Marquette.

"Chris Kirschner is a guy who played attack, played midfield for us, we have high hopes for him," Stimmel said. "Griffin Fries played a lot of minutes for us down the stretch last year. In a lot of games, he became a guy that we wanted the ball on his stick when he was out on the field and he was creating and igniting our offense off the dribble."

Multiple newcomers have the potential to factor into the offensive rotation, including Ellison Burt-Murray, Justin Mintzer, Hudson Thomson, and Pierce Washburn.