MLAX hosts St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team resumes action at Valley Fields on Saturday against St. Bonaventure at noon Central time.

The contest in the dome will air live on FloSports with Scott Sudikoff (play-by-play) and Eric Simon on the call. Live statistics are available through GoMarquette.com.

Following this weekend's game, Marquette begins BIG EAST Conference action on Saturday, April 1 at Providence. MU closes the month of April against four teams ranked in the current USILA Coaches Top 20.

MARQUETTE (4-3, 0-0 BIG EAST): The Golden Eagles picked up their biggest win of the season on Saturday afternoon, 12-11, over then-No. 5 Penn State at Gen. Douglas MacArthur High School in Levittown, New York. Devon Cowan and Andrew Bowman each recorded hat tricks for Marquette, while its faceoff unit won at a .704 clip, led by graduate student Grant Evans going 10-for-13 with six ground balls and his first goal of the year.

The MU defense held firm on Saturday, surrendering just nine goals over the first 59 minutes, led by BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week Mason Woodward with seven ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Fellow poles Zach Granger and David Lamarca also each forced two turnovers.

Marquette now owns two victories over Big Ten foes this season after the win over the Nittany Lions and against Michigan on Feb. 25 in Naples, Florida. The Golden Eagles have also defeated Lindenwood and Detroit Mercy, while suffering heartbreaking defeats to Utah on Feb. 11 and Bellarmine on March 11. MU's other loss came at current No. 1 Notre Dame on Feb. 15.

Senior attackman Jake Stegman leads the Golden Eagles with 24 points on 10 goals and 14 assists, while sophomore Bobby O'Grady has a team-best 19 goals, including four man-up tallies. Cowan, who missed the first three games due to injury, has now scored three hat tricks over the last three games.

Marquette is receiving votes in both the coaches' and media polls this week.

ST. BONAVENTURE (1-7, 0-0 ATLANTIC 10): The Bonnies fell to 1-7 on the year after Tuesday's 22-6 loss at Syracuse. They fell 14-10 at Bellarmine to open the season and their lone victory came at home, 15-6, over VMI on Feb. 25.

Jake Rosa leads the squad with 14 goals and 22 points, while Sean Westley has scored 12 times this season. The Bonnies have been outscored 111-63 (13.88-7.88 per game), despite winning .513 percent of their faceoffs taken. SBU has also struggled to clear the ball at a success rate of just .707 and is averaging 19.13 turnovers per contest.

HISTORY WITH THE BONNIES: Marquette and St. Bonaventure have never met.

Marquette attackman Jackson Rose is a graduate transfer from St. Bonaventure. Rose posted a team- and conference-leading 40 goals during his final season at SBU in 2022 and was second nationally in shot percentage at .548.

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 seven 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 three-straight games against Detroit Mercy, Bellarmine and Penn State.

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 had a hat trick against Penn State – 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 against Bellarmine.

In the win over Penn State, Stegman slid into the midfield, while Rappis joined O'Grady and Cowan on attack. Foster joined Stegman and Luke Blanc in the midfield.

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 seven games is the NCAA leader in ground balls per game (6.14) among non-faceoff specialists. Overall, he's 27th nationally in ground balls per game and, in total, has posted four points (three goals, one assist), 43 ground balls and forced 10 turnovers.

VETERAN ATTACKMEN ARE KEY FOR MU
Senior attackmen Devon Cowan and Jake Stegman have proven their importance to Marquette in recent weeks and rank in the top-three of MU's point producers this season.

Stegman was averaging two assists per game as Marquette's X-attackman but played out of the box in Saturday's win over Penn State. His 14 assists are already 10th best all-time in MU's single-season record book and he leads the Golden Eagles with 24 points. Stegman is third in Marquette history with 39 career assists, behind only Conor Gately (63) and Ryan McNamara (50).

Cowan is tied with Stegman for second on the team with 10 goals despite playing just four contests so far due to injury. He was slowly worked into action against Michigan and scored a late goal in the victory. Since that game, he's notched hat tricks in each of the last three games and is five points from becoming the fourth Marquette player to reach 100 in his career.

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 22 games of his NCAA career he's seventh in program history in career goals (64) and the all-time leader in man-up scores (17).

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.

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.

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 faces stiff competition for playing time with Williams and Emmanuel.

Evans and Williams combined to go 19-of-27 (.704) in Marquette's victory over then-No. 5 Penn State on March 18.

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