WLAX Travels to Face Louisville, Ohio State

Full Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE — The Marquette women's lacrosse team (1-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) hits the road this weekend to face a pair of non-conference foes. The Golden Eagles will first head to Louisville, Kentucky, to face Louisville (0-2, 0-0 ACC) on Friday, Feb. 18, at 11 a.m. (CT). They then head to Columbus, Ohio, to take on Ohio State (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 11 a.m. (CT). Live stat links for both contests are available at GoMarquette.com.

The Golden Eagles are coming off of an opening weekend split of games, starting the 2022 campaign with a 16-13 home win over Cincinnati before falling on the road 24-13 to No 5 Northwestern. Marquette was picked fifth in this year's BIG EAST preseason coaches' poll after going 7-9 overall and 4-6 in conference play a season ago.

Marquette welcomes in 10 newcomers to this year's squad, including eight true freshmen and a pair of graduate transfers. They will join 12 returning letterwinners and six returning starters from a season ago.

Louisville enters the weekend 0-2 on the year after a pair of opening weekend losses last week. This will be the first home contest for the Cardinals, who fell 14-13 in overtime at Colorado and 19-9 at Denver on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Louisville went 5-11 in its 2021 campaign. Junior midfielder Nicole Perroni leads the squad this year with seven goals.

The Buckeyes are 2-0 after posting a 17-5 win ove Robert Morris last Saturday and an 18-9 win over Cincinnati on Wednesday. They went 4-9 last season with a 4-8 record in conference play to finish fifth in the Big Ten. Junior attacker Nicole Ferrara is the team's to returning goal scorer after netting 25 in 2021.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS

• Louisville is off to an 0-2 start to the 2022 season after opening the year with a pair of road losses last weekend.

• The Cardinals fell in ovetime to Colorado, 14-13, before dropping a 19-9 contest against Denver.

• Cincinnati went 5-11 in 2021 with a 1-9 conference mark to finish last in the AAC.

• The top returning scorer for Louisville is graduate midfielder Caroline Blalock. In 2021, she ranked second on the team in both goals (30) and points (41).

• Junior midfielder leads the squad this season with seven goals scored.

SERIES HISTORY VS LOUISVILLE

• Cincinnati and Marquette have faced off nine times, seeing each other all but one year since the start of MU's program.

• The Cardinals lead the all-time series 8-1, including wins each of the last two years Marquette's lone win in the series came Feb 10, 2019

• Marquette is 0-5 in games played at Louisville.

SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES

• Ohio State is off to an unbeaten start to the 2022 season, opening the year with a 17-5 home win over Robert Morris, followed by an 18-9 win at Cincinnati.

• Junior attacker Nicole Ferrara leads the team this season with eight points on five goals and three assists. Sophomore attacker Jamie Lasda is also tied for the team-lead with five goals.

• Just two games in, six Buckeye players have already netted four or more goals.

• Claire Morris and Regan Alexander have split time in the net this season for OSU, each being credited with a win. Regan has recorded 21 saves in 78 minutes of action this season.

SERIES HISTORY VS OHIO STATE

• Sunday's game will mark just the third all-time meeting between MU and Ohio State.

• Marquette is 0-2 in the series, with both games being decided by just two points.

• The last meeting between the two squads came on March 7, 2020, an 11-9 win for Ohio State at Valley Fields.

JOINING THE 100 POINT CLUB

• Senior attacker Shea Garcia earned the 100th point of her career in the season opener against Cincinnati, and currently sits with 104.

• Garcia currently ranks in MU's all-time top 10 in both career goals (9th - 76) and assists (8th - 29).

• She is just 10 points away from moving into Marquette's all-time top 10.

RECAPPING THE WEEK

• The Golden Eagles opened their program's 10th season last weekend, starting the 2022 campaign with a split against Cincinnati and No. 5 Northwestern.

• In the season opener Marquette took down Cincinnati 16-13. This was the team's first ever season-opening win.

• After facing a 2-1 deficit early in the first quarter, Marquette scored three unanswered goals to re-take the lead and never trailed again in the contest.

• At No. 5 Northwestern, MU sufferred a 24-13 setback on Monday.

• Despite a stong effort which saw Marquette score its second-most points ever against a Top 25 team, it couldn't keep up with one of the nation's top squads.

A HAT TRICK OF HAT TRICKS

• In Marquette's season-opening win over Cincinnati last weekend, three different Golden Eagles posted hat tricks.

• Shea Garcia, Emma Soccodato and Leigh Steiner each found the back of the net three times, while seven total players got on the board for Marquette.

• For Soccodato and Steiner, this was just the second of their careers.

• Three or more MU players recording a hat trick happened just four times last season.

A PAIR OF BIG EAST WEEKLY HONORS

• For their roles in Marquette's 16-13 win over Cincinnati last week, Shea Garcia and Leigh Steiner were each named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.

• Garcia, a senior attacker, went for a game-high six points on three goals and three assists, and conntected on all three shot attempts she took.

• Steiner also chipped in three goals to go along with one assist and a career-high and game-high six draw controls for the sophomore defender.