MLAX hosts No. 10 Notre Dame on Tuesday

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team hosts No. 10 Notre Dame on Tuesday afternoon at Valley Fields in their annual midweek showdown.

Face-off against the Fighting Irish inside the seasonal dome is slated for 4 p.m. Central time and a live broadcast will air on Marquette Athletics' YouTube channel. Live statistics will be available on GoMarquette.com.

Following the matchup against ND, the Golden Eagles continue BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday, April 16 at No. 2 Georgetown.

THE MATCHUP: The Golden Eagles have never defeated Notre Dame in nine tries since the first meeting during MU's first season of competition in 2013. The two Midwestern Catholic institutions met in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Championship and played to three one-goal decisions during the 2017-19 regular seasons. ND's lone visit to Valley Fields resulted in a 7-6 victory on April 11, 2018. MU led 6-5 until the Irish scored two goals in the final 42 seconds of regulation for the win.

Previous five meetings:
4/11/17               A             L, 11-10
5/14/17               A             L, 15-9 (NCAA First Round)
4/11/18               H            L, 7-6
4/10/19               A             L, 13-6
3/17/21               A             L, 10-3

MARQUETTE (4-6): After early season offensive struggles the Golden Eagles have found their groove in the last two games since entering BIG EAST play. MU has scored a combined 39 goals in wins over Providence (16-11) and St. John's (23-13) and won by an average of 7.5 goals. Marquette's 23 goals against the Red Storm tied a BIG EAST single game record.

Freshman attackman Bobby O'Grady has led the MU charge with 14 goals in the last two games, including a program-record eight scores in Saturday's win at St. John's. That mark ties the single-game high this season in NCAA Division I play, recorded by ND's Jake Taylor against Syracuse on April 2. The mark also tied the BIG EAST single game record and is the most ever for a freshman in BIG EAST play.

O'Grady currently leads MU with 34 goals and 38 points, and his goal mark is tied with Jordan Greenfield for the third-best single-season mark in MU history. Through 10 games, he is just six goals from Ryan McNamara's program record of 40 from 2016.

Face-off specialists Luke Williams and Thomas Washington each rank in the top four of the BIG EAST individually in winning percentage and MU's cumulative winning percentage of .602 (160-of-266) would rank as a single-season program record.

Attackman Devon Cowan returned from a month-long absence due to injury against PC and posted five points on Saturday against SJU, while freshman Will Foster had two goals and four assists in the win.

Even with the return of Cowan, the Golden Eagles are still without the services of Russell Melendez, who was leading MU in points early this season, and All-BIG EAST defenseman Zach Granger. Attackman Nolan Rappis and midfielder Griffin Fries had each played significant roles and are sidelined.

NOTRE DAME (4-4): The Fighting Irish have played one of the nation's toughest schedules in 2022 and have faced seven ranked teams through eight games. ND has won three of its last four, including two straight after Saturday's 16-15 win at then-No. 10 Duke. Attackman Pat Kavanagh posted a hat trick and game-high seven points against the Blue Devils as Notre Dame jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a pair of his goals to start the game.

Kavanagh leads the Irish with 17 goals, 23 assists and 40 points this season, while three other players have at least a dozen scores. Goalie Liam Entenmann has played all but 34 minutes in net and has a save percentage of .539 with 96 saves.

The Irish have struggled a bit at the faceoff dot, posting a .432 mark (96-of-222) through eight games with Will Lynch having taken a majority of the draws. Lynch has posted a .472 winning percentage on 159 faceoffs.

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