MLAX heads to neutral site matchup with No. 6/5 Penn State

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team heads to Long Island for a matchup with No. 6/5 Penn State in Levittown, New York at Gen. Douglas MacArthur High School on Saturday.

Opening faceoff for the first meeting between the two programs is set for 11 a.m. Central time. Varsity Media Sports Network will broadcast the game live on YouTube, while live statistics are available through StatBroadcast on GoMarquette.com.

Following the game against the Nittany Lions, MU returns to Milwaukee to host St. Bonaventure on March 25 before beginning BIG EAST Conference play on April 1 at Providence.

MARQUETTE (3-3, 0-0 BIG EAST): The Golden Eagles are 3-3 on the season after Saturday's 11-10 loss to Bellarmine, a team receiving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Marquette scored six of the final seven goals in the loss to the Knights and its rally fell short after narrowing a six-goal deficit to one with over five minutes remaining.

Devon Cowan and Luke Blanc each recorded hat tricks for MU and goalie Michael Allieri made nine saves. The Golden Eagles and Knights played to a draw statistically with each team recording 34 shots, 25 ground balls, 17 turnovers, while MU claimed one more faceoff win than BU. Graduate transfer Grant Evans entered the game in the second half and helped pace MU's comeback with an 8-of-12 performance at the dot.

Senior attackman Jake Stegman notched a pair of goals and an assist against Bellarmine and leads the Golden Eagles through six games with 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists. Fellow attackman Bobby O'Grady has a team-best 17 goals, including four man-up scores.

No. 6/5 PENN STATE (5-1, 0-0 BIG TEN): The Nittany Lions have climbed into the top-six of the national rankings after four-consecutive wins, including three victories in the last three weeks over top-10 squads from the Ivy League. Penn State began the season with a 21-11 win over Lafayette on Feb. 4 before a 14-12 setback at Villanova on Feb. 12. Since that loss to the Wildcats, PSU has beaten Stony Brook, then-No. 7/5 Yale, then-No. 10 Penn, and most-recently then-No. 3 Cornell on Saturday afternoon.

Graduate student TJ Malone leads the Nittany Lions with 24 points on 15 goals and nine assists, while Matt Traynor is the team leader with 17 goals and had a hat trick in the 10-6 win over Cornell. Five PSU players have at least 16 points through six games, while the Nittany Lions are outscoring their opponents, 14.67 to 10.50 goals per game on average.

Goalie Jack Fracyon has all six decisions this year and has a .568 save percentage with 79 total saves and a 10.25 goals against average. He was named the USA Lacrosse Division I Player of the Week on Tuesday for his 16-save performance in last week's win over Cornell.

Head coach Jeff Tambroni is in his 13th season in Happy Valley and has led Penn State to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the 2019 national semifinals. He also led Cornell for 10 seasons, helping the Big Red to three trips to the NCAA semifinals and a national championship game appearance in 2009.

HISTORY WITH THE NITTANY LIONS
Marquette and Penn State have never met. MU head coach Andrew Stimmel began his collegiate playing career as a midfielder at Penn State. He spent one season in Happy Valley before finishing his career at Ohio State.

INJURIES INFLUENCE OFFENSIVE LINEUP
Outside of leading scorers Bobby O'Grady and Jake Stegman on attack, Marquette's offensive unit has been in a state of flux over the season's first six contests. Fellow attackman Devon Cowan has reentered the lineup alongside the pair, while the first midfield has rotated due to injuries.

Cowan played his first game this season against Michigan on Feb. 25 and has now posted hat tricks in back-to-back games against Detroit Mercy and Bellarmine.

Of the eight players to start in the midfield for the Golden Eagles, six have missed games due to injury, including three games each for Andrew Bowman – who scored two goals in his NCAA debut against Lindenwood – and Will Foster, MU's assist leader last season.

Matthew Winegardner missed his first game of the season against Bellarmine, while Bowman and Hayden Miller each made their return to action. Nolan Rappis, who missed most of last season after suffering a season-ending knee injury on March 5, made his season debut this year at Detroit Mercy on March 2 and scored his first goal since last year on Saturday.

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 six games is the NCAA BIG EAST leader in ground balls per game (6.00) among non-faceoff specialists. Overall, he's 29th nationally in ground balls per game and, in total, has posted four points (three goals, one assist), 36 ground balls and forced eight turnovers.

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).