MLAX to face No. 2 Georgetown in BIG EAST Semis

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads to Washington, D.C. to face top-seeded and No. 2 Georgetown on Thursday, May 5 in the semifinals of the 2022 BIG EAST Championship Presented by JEEP at Cooper Field.

Face-off against GU is slated for 7:30 p.m. Central time and a live broadcast will air on CBS Sports Network. Live statistics will be available through StatBroadcast.

The winner of Thursday's semifinals will meet in the league title game on Saturday, May 7 at 3:30 p.m. CT. Second-seeded Denver faces Villanova in the first semifinal at 4:30 p.m. CT on Thursday.

THE MATCHUP: The Hoyas have won six of the 11 meetings between the two programs, including each of the last three matchups. Eight of the 11 meetings have featured at least one of the teams ranked or receiving votes, while six of the games were decided by just one goal. Marquette is 2-4 in games played at Georgetown.

Georgetown topped MU, 20-10, in the previous meeting this season on April 16. Marquette freshman attackman Bobby O'Grady posted five goals to break the MU single-season scoring record and goalie Michael Allieri made an MU-record 26 saves in the loss. Devon Cowan scored a career-high six goals in a two-goal loss to the Hoyas at home last season, and added a hat trick in the game in D.C. He had another two scores at GU earlier this year.

Previous five meetings:
3/24/18               H            W, 9-8 (OT)
3/23/19               A             W, 9-8
3/6/21                 A             L, 20-13
4/10/21               H             L, 10-8
4/16/22               A             L, 20-10

MU IN THE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT: The Golden Eagles are 4-3 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship with a pair of tournament crowns captured in 2016 and 2017. MU is making its sixth trip to the league semifinals and will head to Georgetown for the first time for the event.

Previous BIG EAST tournament games:
2014 (Villanova, Pa. – 2 seed)
5/1/14     at (3) Villanova (L, 9-6)
2015 (Villanova, Pa. – 3 seed)
4/30/15    vs. (2) No. 13 Georgetown (L, 12-8)
2016 (Denver – 2 seed)
5/5/16    vs. (3) No. 16 Villanova (W, 14-9)
5/7/16    at (1) No. 1 Denver (W, 10-9)
2017 (Providence, R.I. – 4 seed)
5/4/17    vs. (1) No. 2 Denver (W, 11-8)
5/6/17 at (3) Providence (W, 10-9)
2018 (Villanova, Pa. – 4 seed)
5/4/18    vs. (1) No. 3 Denver (L, 10-7)

MARQUETTE (4-10): The Golden Eagles, who are making their first appearance in the league semifinals since 2018, have lost four straight games after claiming victories over St. John's and Providence to begin BIG EAST play.

Attackman Bobby O'Grady has earned five BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors and is MU's all-time single-season goal leader with 44 goals this season. The native of Milton, Massachusetts leads MU with 44 goals (11 man-up) and 49 points in 14 games.

O'Grady finished the league schedule second in conference play with 22 goals and 24 points, behind only GU's Dylan Watson. O'Grady connected on a league-high 46.8 percent of his shots during his first season in the BIG EAST.

Outside of O'Grady, most of MU's top contributors have missed extended action during the season. Cowan, Mason Woodward and Zach Granger each earned All-BIG EAST recognition last season and all missed around a month of game action.

The Golden Eagles have seen a number of freshmen step into larger roles as the season has gone on in addition to O'Grady. Will Foster has excelled as a distributor for MU, leading the squad with 16 assists, while Michael Allieri led the BIG EAST this season with 179 saves, including 83 in conference play with a .546 save percentage.

Marquette has set new program records this season for shots, shots on goal, man-up goals and saves, and is also on pace to break records for ground balls and faceoff winning percentage.

Georgetown (13-1): The Hoyas boast the nation's top scoring defense, limiting opponents to just 8.00 goals per game. Scoring at a 15.57 goals per game clip, GU is third nationally in scoring margin at 7.57. Georgetown leads the BIG EAST and sits in the top-five of Division I in ground balls per game (second, 38.21/game), caused turnovers per game (tied for fourth, 10.36) and faceoff winning percentage (fifth, 0.610).

Offensively, the Hoyas are led by Dylan Watson's 55 goals, while Graham Bundy Jr., has 57 points (35 goals, 22 assists) through 14 games. Alex Trippi also has scored 22 goals this season and TJ Haley has 27 assists. Watson leads NCAA Division I with 3.93 goals per game.

Goalie Owen McElroy is among the national leaders in both goals against average (8.03) and save percentage (.625), while faceoff specialist James Reilly has won 62.9 of the draws he's taken this year and has a league-high 121 ground balls.

Georgetown owns victories over five nationally ranked teams this season and a lone loss to then-No. 18 Princeton, 10-8, at Cooper Filed on March 5.

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).