Men's Lacrosse to face Michigan in Naples

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads to the Sunshine State for a Saturday meeting against Michigan at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Naples, Florida.

The game is the first in a doubleheader in the second year of the Southwest Florida Shootout, which also features Virginia and Ohio State in the evening contest.

First faceoff between the Golden Eagles and Wolverines is slated for 2 p.m. Central time on Big Ten Network Plus and live statistics are available through StatBroadcast on GoMarquette.com.

The event at Paradise Coast features a youth clinic on Friday night following MU's practice at the venue.

MARQUETTE (1-2, 0-0 BIG EAST): The Golden Eagles have dropped consecutive games at Utah and No. 2 Notre Dame after opening the season with a 17-2 win over Lindenwood on Feb. 4 in Milwaukee. Sophomore attackman Bobby O'Grady leads MU into the weekend with a BIG EAST Conference-best 15 goals and is fourth nationally with 5.00 goals per game. He scored six times in the season opener and four times last week against the Irish.

MU is led defensively by Mason Woodward, who is averaging a goal, seven ground balls and two caused turnovers per game from his close defense position. He's second nationally among non-faceoff specialists in ground balls per game and is MU's fifth-leading scorer.

The Golden Eagles were without starting midfielder Andrew Bowman against the Irish due to an injured ankle and hope to have a pair of injured attackmen back soon in Devon Cowan and Nolan Rappis.

The Golden Eagles will face Detroit Mercy on March 5 to conclude their season-long four-game road swing before their next home contest on March 11 against Bellarmine.

MICHIGAN (2-1, 0-0 Big Ten): The Wolverines have won their last two games against Hofstra and Canisius after opening the season with a 17-13 loss at No. 1 Virginia.

Senior Josh Zawada posted the 100th goal of his career in Tuesday's win over the Golden Griffins with six points on a hat trick and three assists. Junior Michael Boehm led UM with four goals and five assists for a game-high nine points, while freshman Hunter Taylor started his first game in net and made four saves in 47:53 of play. In total, 10 players scored for the Wolverines against Canisius.

Boehm leads UM this season with 14 points on six goals and eight assists, while Zawada has seven goals and six assists for 13 points. The Wolverines are outscoring their opponents 14.33 to 11.67 on average and are facing-off at a .565 clip (48-of-37).

SERIES WITH MICHIGAN
Michigan leads the all-time series with Marquette, 3-1, and has won each of the last two meetings, including a 12-10 decision last season in Milwaukee. Marquette's lone win in the series was a 16-13 victory in the spring of 2019. The Golden Eagles also fell at Michigan, 13-12, in the last game of the NCAA men's lacrosse season in 2020.

Then-freshman Nolan Rappis led MU against the Wolverines with a hat trick in last season's matchup at Valley Fields in his first career start. Michigan outshot MU, 38-30, in the contest and Michael Allieri made 14 saves, though a seven-goal second quarter proved to be the difference for the Wolverines. Boehm had a hat trick for UM, while Zawada and Ryan Cohen each scored twice.

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 three games is the No. 2 player in Division I in ground balls per game (7.00) among non-faceoff specialists. Overall, he's 22nd nationally in ground balls per game and in two contests he has posted three goals, 21 ground balls and forced six turnovers.

O'GRADY VAULTS UP 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 18 games of his NCAA career he's tied for sixth in program history with teammate Devon Cowan in career goals (60) and is second in man-up scores (16). O'Grady has the eighth-longest goal scoring streak in the country at 18 games and is one of only three in the top eight 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's also earned weekly honor roll mention for his play at Utah and Notre Dame.

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.

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