Men’s lacrosse heads to No. 3 Notre Dame on Wednesday

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team continues its season-long four-game road swing with a midweek contest against No. 3 Notre Dame on Wednesday afternoon at the Loftus Sports Center in Notre Dame, Indiana.

First faceoff is slated for 4 p.m. Central time on ACC Network Extra and live statistics are available through StatBroadcast on GoMarquette.com.

MARQUETTE (1-1, 0-0 BIG EAST):

The Golden Eagles pulled within a goal in the final minute after overcoming a four-goal deficit at Utah on Saturday, but fell 18-16 to the Utes in Salt Lake City.
Bobby O'Grady led Marquette with five goals and an assist, while junior transfer Matthew Winegardner posted a career-high four scores.
Close defenseman Mason Woodward also turned in a career day on Saturday with 12 ground balls, four caused turnovers and a goal.
Marquette began the season with a 17-2 win over Lindenwood on Feb. 4 in Milwaukee and will face Michigan and Detroit Mercy on the road over the next two weeks before playing their next home game on March 11.

No. 3 NOTRE DAME (0-0, 0-0 ACC):

The Fighting Irish were picked to finish second in the ACC Preseason Coaches' Poll, just two points behind league-favorite Virginia, and begin their season on Wednesday against MU.
Senior attackman Pat Kavanagh and goalie Liam Entenmann are each on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and were joined on the Preseason All-ACC Team by midfielder Eric Dobson.
Kavanagh's 64 points in 2022 led the Irish, while younger brother, Chris, posted 33 points on 22 goals and 11 assists.
Senior Jake Taylor also returns on attack, where he led ND in goals with 27 last season despite playing just seven games.
Entenmann, a two-time USILA All-American, posted an 8-4 record last season with a .573 save percentage and a 10.50 goals against average.
Head coach Kevin Corrigan begins his 35th season and has led the Irish to 321 victories, an NCAA Division I record at a single institution.

SERIES WITH NOTRE DAME

The Golden Eagles have met the Fighting Irish 10 times in program history and are in search of their first victory.
MU is also 0-6 in games played in South Bend, though Wednesday's game will mark the first time the two squads have met inside the Loftus Sports Center.
The Irish have been ranked inside the top-15 of the USILA Coaches' Poll for every contest and pulled out narrow one-goal victories over MU in three-straight years (2016-18), with both the 2016 and 2017 regular season meetings coming at Arlotta Stadium.
Notre Dame claimed an 18-8 victory in the dome at Valley Fields on April 12 last season behind five goals from Jake Taylor and four from Wheaton Jakoboice.
Devon Cowan scored four goals, while Bobby O'Grady added a pair for the Golden Eagles, who were outshot 50-34.
MU goalie Mike Allieri made 15 saves in net, while faceoff specialist Cole Emmanuel won 15-of-20 at the dot and picked up 10 ground balls.
The then-10th ranked Irish scored six goals in each of the first two quarters to lead 12-5 at the half, while MU was playing without All-American defenseman Mason Woodward who missed the first game of his career with a hand injury.

WOODWARD IS ELITE

Close defenseman Mason Woodward was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on Feb. 10 as the program's second two-time USILA All-American (Ryan McNamara earned honors in both 2016 and 2017). He follows McNamara (2017) and Conor Gately (2015, 2016) as MU players to earn recognition.
Woodward led the Golden Eagles in caused turnovers in each of his first three seasons and is the program's all-time leader in ground balls per game (4.59 per contest entering 2023).
He was the BIG EAST's leader in ground balls among non-faceoff specialists in each of the last two seasons and is the third player in MU history with over 100 career ground balls and 50 caused turnovers (Liam Byrnes and B.J. Grill are the others).
Woodward posted a career-high 12 ground balls at Utah on Feb. 11 and through two games is the NCAA leader in ground balls (17) and ground balls per game (8.50) among non-faceoff specialists.
Overall, he's 15th nationally in ground balls per game and in two contests he has posted two goals, 17 ground balls and forced five turnovers.

O'GRADY VAULTS INTO MU RECORD BOOK

Bobby O'Grady turned in a record-setting season as a true freshman in 2022, setting new program records for goals (45) and man-up scores (13). He also recorded just the fourth 50-point season at Marquette and tied a BIG EAST record with eight goals at St. John's on April 9, 2022.
His 3.00 goals per game in 2022 was a MU single-season record and currently through just 17 games of his NCAA career, he's eighth in program history in career goals (56) and is tied for second in man-up scores (15).
O'Grady is just one of eight active players in the country to have at least a 15-game scoring streak and is one of only three on that list to have scored in every career game.
O'Grady was named the BIG EAST Attack Player of the Week for his play in MU's opener against Lindenwood after posting his third career game with at least six goals and seven points.
He scored five goals against Utah to earn weekly honor roll mention.

FRESHMEN ARE GAME ONE MIDFIELD STARTERS

Freshmen Andrew Bowman and Jake Bair each started their NCAA debuts in the midfield alongside sophomore Will Foster. Bowman chipped in two goals in his first appearance, marking just the fifth time that a MU freshman has scored multiple goals in his first NCAA game (others are O'Grady, Devon Cowan, Chris Kirschner and Anthony Orsini). For his play against Lindenwood, Bowman was honored as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Feb. 6.

LAMARCA AND KREINZ SHINE IN MIDFIELD

While David Lamarca earned All-BIG EAST Preseason Team recognition at LSM, his counterpart at the position, Logan Kreinz, has been just as valuable to the MU defense. Lamarca, a junior, picked up six ground balls in the season opener against Lindenwood on Feb. 4, while Logan Kreinz, a graduate student, notched an assist and five ground balls. The tandem, which entered 2023 with 58 combined career appearances, provides valuable experience to a defensive midfield unit that lost three contributors at short stick to graduation.

DEEP AT THE DOT

The Golden Eagles boast a deep group of faceoff specialists led by All-BIG EAST Second Teamer Luke Williams, who posted a .568 percentage last season, grabbed a team-leading 69 ground balls, and contributed to MU's early offense with a career-high seven points on four goals and three assists. He was even more efficient in BIG EAST play, winning at a .617 clip with 35 ground balls and a pair of goals in five games.
Fellow senior Cole Emmanuel had the highest face-off percentage on the team (.594) in 2022 by winning 38 of his 56 draws. The transfer from Colorado Mesa had his best game to end the year in MU's BIG EAST semifinal loss to No. 2 Georgetown and USILA All-American James Reilly. Emmanuel won 14-of-21 (.667) faceoffs, while picking up nine ground balls and scoring one of MU's five goals.
In the 2023 season opener against Lindenwood, Emmanuel went 10-of-12, picked up three ground balls and added an assist.
Graduate student Grant Evans also joins the squad from Division III Grove City College, where Stimmel was the MCLA Division II Coach of the Year in 2013. Evans was a two-time USILA Third Team All-American and the NCAA statistical champion in faceoff percentage in 2019. He ended his career at Grove City with a .762 winning percentage and 70 points but will face stiff competition for playing time with Williams, Emmanuel, Luke Rios, and freshman Adam Slager.

TRANSFERS ADD SCORING PUNCH

Matthew Winegardner and Jackson Rose both arrive as all-conference performers and high-level point producers at their previous institutions.
Rose was a second team All-MAAC attackman last season at St. Bonaventure, where he led the league in shooting percentage, and scored a career-high 40 goals on attack.
Winegardner played in the midfield at Mercer, where he posted 27 points on 17 goals and 10 assists.
Rose scored twice in his MU debut against Lindenwood on Feb. 4, while Winegardner scored once as a reserve midfielder. Winegardner posted his first career hat trick at Utah on Feb. 11 and finished with four goals and an assist.
Nate Surd played one season at Colorado Mesa with MU faceoff specialist Cole Emmanuel before spending two seasons at Harford Community College in Maryland. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder posted 75 points in 22 career games at Harford, including 49 points (29 goals and 20 assists) in 12 games last season.
Surd made his MU debut at Utah on Feb. 11 and scored a goal as a reserve midfielder)

TEAM USA TIES TO MU LACROSSE

Head coach Andrew Stimmel captured a gold medal last summer as an assistant coach with the Team USA Men's Under-21 Team at the World Lacrosse Men's U-21 Championship in Limerick, Ireland.
Former MU players Liam Byrnes and Jake Richard (current MU assistant) were also selected this fall to the 23-man Team USA roster for the 2023 World Lacrosse Men's Championship.
The event will take place from June 21 to July 1, with 30 teams competing at San Diego State University and the University of San Diego. Team USA is in search of its record 11th world title and has finished first or second at every world championship since the event began in 1967.
Byrnes is all All-Premier Lacrosse League close defenseman and led Waterdogs LC to a league title in 2022, while Richard plays SSDM for Atlas LC. Byrnes also plays box lacrosse in the NLL.

HOME GAMES ON FLOSPORTS

All home games for both MU men's and women's programs will be broadcast live on FloSports, the BIG EAST Conference's digital rights holder. Discounted rates for FloSports accounts are available by signing up through the Marquette portal for either men's or women's (signing up with either link will work for both sports).
Most BIG EAST games, home- and road-contests, will be available through FloSports. Scott Sudikoff will handle play-by-play duties on most broadcasts from the Valley, while local announcer Matt Menzl will also assist.

MU TO HOST 2023 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP

For the first time this season, the Golden Eagles will host the 2023 BIG EAST Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship presented by JEEP on Thursday, May 4 and Saturday, May 6 at Valley Fields. Tickets for the tournament will go on sale at a later date.

IRON DISTRICT MKE, THE FUTURE HOME OF MU LAX

Iron District MKE, the new home stadium for men's and women's soccer and lacrosse sits on an 11-acre parcel of land that Marquette University sold in spring 2022 to Bear Development who, together with Kacmarcik Enterprises, is developing the area into a vibrant sports and entertainment district.
The development, bordered by N. 6th Street to the east, N. 10th Street to the west, and W. Michigan Street to the north, is centered around an 8,000-seat stadium, includes a 3,500-capacity indoor concert venue operated by the Pabst Theater Group, will have a 140-unit residential component, boutique hotel, in addition to dining, nightlife and retail operations.
Construction has begun on the development and the Golden Eagles expect to begin competing at the venue by the 2025 campaign.

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).