MLAX heads to Detroit Mercy for Thursday game

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse game at Detroit Mercy has been moved up to Thursday, March 2 at 11 a.m. Central time at Titan Field in Detroit.

The contest was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday but the game was moved up due to impending inclement weather over the weekend in southeastern Michigan.

The contest concludes MU's season-long four-game road swing, and the Golden Eagles will play their first home game since Feb. 4 against Bellarmine on March 11 at Valley Fields.

MARQUETTE (2-2, 0-0 BIG EAST): The Golden Eagles claimed a convincing 14-9 win over Michigan on Saturday at the Southwestern Florida Shootout in Naples, Florida to even their season record at 2-2. Senior midfielder Griffin Fries led Marquette with career highs in goals (four) and points (five), while defenseman Mason Woodward earned BIG EAST Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his play against the Wolverines. Woodward posted a game-high seven ground balls with two caused turnovers and an assist to garner his second weekly recognition of the year.

The win was MU's first since the victory over Lindenwood in the season opener and snapped a two-game skid against Utah and then-No. 2 Notre Dame.

Though he was held scoreless for the first time in his career against Michigan, sophomore Bobby O'Grady still leads MU with 15 goals and 17 points, while fellow attackman Jake Stegman has a team-best nine assists alongside 16 points.

Senior Devon Cowan made his season debut against Michigan and scored his first goal of the year in the final minute. Freshman pole Mike Piraino also made his debut against the Wolverines and recorded a caused turnover seconds after he first stepped on the field.

DETROIT MERCY (0-2, 0-0 ASUN): The Titans have played just two games this season and have been out of action since a Feb. 11 loss, 17-2, at High Point, UDM began the season with a 14-11 loss at VMI on Feb. 4 and is led by five goals from Ryan Birney. Birney, a senior midfielder, scored all five of his goals against VMI and was named ASUN Offensive Player of the Week.

The Titans have been outscored 15.50 to 6.50 in their two matchups and have won just 17-of-51 faceoffs. Despite the goal disparity, both UDM goalies have a save percentage at-or-above .500, while Jakob Hemme has played 67:08 of 120 minutes in net.

SERIES WITH THE TITANS
Marquette leads the all-time series against Detroit Mercy, 8-1, and has won each of the two meetings during head coach Andrew Stimmel's tenure. MU is 3-0 all-time against UDM in the state of Michigan and most recently played in the Great Lakes State on Feb. 8, 2020 in Pontiac, Michigan – an 18-6 Marquette win. The only meeting at Titan Field came during MU's second season of competition in 2014 and resulted in a 15-10 MU victory.

Last season, the Golden Eagles claimed a 13-7 win at Valley Fields behind four goals from O'Grady and a hat trick from Will Foster. Cowan and MU defenseman Zach Granger were both out of the lineup and freshman Nolan Rappis sustained a season-ending injury in the contest.

In the nine series games, MU has a plus-42 goal differential and its lone loss came 15-12 on Feb. 23, 2019 in Milwaukee.

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 four games is the NCAA Division I leader in ground balls per game (7.00) among non-faceoff specialists. Overall, he's 22nd nationally in ground balls per game and in four contests he has posted four points (three goals, one assist), 28 ground balls and forced eight turnovers.

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