MLAX hosts Villanova Saturday for Senior Day

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads hosts Villanova on Saturday and the squad will honor its departing seniors during pregame festivities.

Face-off against the Wildcats, a team receiving votes in both national polls, is slated for 11 a.m. Central time and a live broadcast will air on the Marquette Athletics YouTube channel. Live statistics will be available on GoMarquette.com.

In a pregame ceremony, the Golden Eagles will honor their departing seniors Aaron Joseph, Garrett Moya, Jordan Schmid, Jett Leonard-Bedier, Thomas Washington, Jack Devine, Trevor Peay, Holden Patterson, Jacob Hallam, James Amorosana, Patrick English, Dan Shay, Quintin Arnett, Anthony Courcelle, Moey Lardy, Mitch Salanty, Noah Lindner and Kyle McNeill. Team managers Joey and Nick Artinian as well as Hannah Schmiltzer will also be honored.

Following the matchup against the Wildcats, the Golden Eagles conclude regular season action with an 8 p.m. Central time matchup in Denver against the Pioneers at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

THE MATCHUP: The Golden Eagles are 3-7 all-time against the Wildcats and have lost five in a row after three-straight wins in 2015 and 2016. Marquette's first win over VU was an 9-8 victory at Villanova on March 28, 2015, before two wins over the Wildcats in 2016. During that BIG EAST title-winning season, MU knocked off then-No. 5/6 Villanova at Valley Fields during the regular season before a 14-9 victory in the semifinals of the league tournament. Since then, VU's high-powered offense has prevailed in five wins, though MU did play the Wildcats even for most of the first meeting last season at Valley Fields before VU scored the final two goals in the 16-14 MU loss.

Previous five meetings:
4/1/17                 A            L, 10-9 (OT)
3/31/18               H            L, 14-9
3/30/19               A             L, 15-11
2/27/21               H            L, 16-14
4/24/21               A             L, 19-8

MARQUETTE (4-8): The Golden Eagles have secured their spot in the BIG EAST Conference semifinals with wins earlier this season over Providence and St. John's. The final two regular season matchups with VU and Denver will determine seeding for the event, which will be held May 5-7 at Cooper Field in Washington, D.C. Marquette fell to No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 2 Georgetown last week.

Attackman Bobby O'Grady was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week for the fifth time this season after becoming MU's single-season goal leader (41 goals) with five scores against the Hoyas on Saturday. The native of Milton, Massachusetts leads MU with 41 goals and 45 points in just 12 games.

Through three BIG EAST Conference games, O'Grady has scored a league-high 19 goals and paces the league in goals (6.33) and points (6.67) per game.

Marquette goalie Michael Allieri also etched his name in the record books with a 26-save effort against the Hoyas, bettering the previous MU high by eight saves. He's third among qualified league goaltenders in BIG EAST games with a .552 save percentage and a conference-high 17.67 saves per game.

Face-off specialists Luke Williams (.575) and Thomas Washington (.600) each rank in the top four of the BIG EAST for all games in winning percentage and MU's cumulative winning percentage of .582 (192-of-330) would rank as a single-season program record.

All-American defenseman Mason Woodward missed the first two games of his Marquette career against the Hoyas and Irish last week. In addition to Woodward, the Golden Eagles have been without fellow All-BIG EAST defenseman Zach Granger, attackmen Russell Melendez and Nolan Rappis and midfielders Griffin Fries, Anthony Courcelle and Hayden Miller.

VILLANOVA (7-4): The Wildcats are 2-1 in BIG EAST play after an 18-13 home win over Providence on Saturday afternoon. They began league play with a 22-9 win at St. John's before their lone conference loss thus far, 12-10, to Denver at Villanova Stadium. Other than a three-game winning streak from March 19-April 2 against Drexel, Delaware and SJU, VU has alternated wins and losses for much of the campaign.

Matt Campbell leads the Wildcats with 35 goals and 51 points this season and is the BIG EAST's overall leader in points per game with 4.64. Villanova also boasts four other players with at least 18 goals in Brett Baskin (26), Patrick Daly (25), Luke Keating (21) and J.P Basile (18).

The Wildcats lead the BIG EAST in shots per game and rank second in goals, assists and points per contest. Faceoff specialist Justin Coppola is second only to Georgetown's James Reilly with a .616 winning percentage at the dot on a mark of 180-of-292.

Four-year starter Will Vitton has been the goalie of record in all 11 games this season.

Keep up with the Marquette men's lacrosse program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteMLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteMLax) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteMLax).