WLAX Travels to Michigan For Pair of Games

The Marquette women's lacrosse team (7-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) makes a trek to the Great Lake State this weekend as it takes on Eastern Michigan (1-5, 0-0 MAC) on Friday, March 24, at 10 a.m. CT in Ypsilanti, before facing Central Michigan (2-5, 0-0 MAC) on Sunday, March 26 at 11 a.m. CT in Mount Pleasant. A link to a live stream for Sunday's game and live stat links for both contests are available at GoMarquette.com.

Marquette is off to its best start in program history, sitting at 7-1 through, and is just one victory from tying last season's win total. The Golden Eagles have won four-straight games entering the weekend, most recently posting a 2-0 week at home with a 13-12 win over Niagara on Thursday and a 15-11 win over Louisville on Sunday. MU boasts the nation's top scoring offense at 18.0 goals per game.

Eastern Michigan, in its first year of NCAA competition, is off to a 1-5 start to the year, their lone win coming March 7 vs Delaware State. The Eagles most recently faced No. 17 Michigan on Sunday, falling 16-3. EMU is led by Mackenzie Blackwell, a freshman attacker with 11 points and nine goals.

Central Michigan enters the weekend 2-5, most recently suffering a 9-4 home loss to Cincinnati on Friday. Under first-year head coach Emilia Ward, the Chippewas have been led statistically by graduate attacker Maggie Diebold who has team-best marks of 22 points and 17 goals.

This will be the first ever meeting between Marquette and first-year program Eastern Michigan. Against CMU, the Golden Eagles hold a 6-2 series advantage and won last year's meeting in Milwaukee 19-13.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES

• Eastern Michigan is currently 1-5 on the year, its lone win coming on March 7 against Delaware State.

• One of seven teams in the MAC, this is EMU's first season of NCAA competition.

• The Eagles have lost three-straight, including most recently a 16-3 loss at No. 17 Michigan on Sunday afternoon.

• The squad is led by freshman attacker Mackenzie Blackwell who has a team-best 11 points and nine goals. Freshman attacker Avery Schwab has tacked on five goals and six assists.

• In net, freshman Giuliana Ditsky has started five of the team's six games and has a 12.71 GAA with 43 saves and a 1-4 record on the year.

• EMU averages 8.0 goals per game while allowing 13.7.

• Eastern Michigan assistant coach Allison Lane played at Marquette from 2015-18.

SCOUTING THE CHIPPEWAS

• Central Michigan enters the weekend with a 2-5 mark on the year, its wins coming against California on Feb. 12 and Duquesne on March 7.

• Most recently, the Chippewas suffered a 9-4 loss at home to Cincinnati last Friday.

• The squad is led by graduate attacker Maggie Diebold who has a team-best 22 points on 17 goals and five assists. Senior midfielder Audrey Whiteside has recorded 14 goals and a team-best eight assists.

• In net, sophomore Alexa Martel has started each of the past four contests, and has a 12.34 GAA with 71 saves and a 1-3 record this season.

• CMU averages 10.0 goals per game while allowing 12.1. It ranks third nationally in fewest fouls per game at 6.3, and 36th in fewest turnovers with 13.6.

SERIES HISTORY VS CENTRAL MICHIGAN

• Sunday's game will be the ninth all-time between Marquette and Central Michigan, the teams having met up each of the past seven seasons.

• Marquette holds a 6-2 series lead, and won last year's meeting in Milwaukee 19-13. MU has won three of the past four vs CMU.

• All-time vs current MAC teams, Marquette is a combined 17-2.

Last 5 Meetings

DATE LOCATION RESULT SCORE

3/27/22 H W 19-13

3/5/21 H W 15-4

2/21/21 A L 11-12

3/4/20 H W 19-9

3/21/19 A L 7-16

LAST TIME OUT

• Marquette picked up another win on Sunday afternoon, defeating Louisville 15-11 at Valley Fields to improve to 7-1.

• In what was Marquette's second-ever win over an ACC team, the Golden Eagles put together a strong all-around performance led by a seven-point outing from Mary Schumar and a career-high 12 saves from Brynna Nixon.

• Marquette hit its stride in the second half, scoring nine of the game's final 12 goals to pull away after trailing for much of the first half.

• Meg Bireley and Tess Osburn each had hat tricks to lead MU's scoring efforts.

THREE GOLDEN EAGLES EARN WEEKLY HONORS

• After helping MU to wins over Niagara and Louisville last week, Tess Osburn, Brynna Nixon and Mary Schumar were each honored by the BIG EAST.

• Osburn was named Freshman of the Week after totaling five goals and an assist to go along with four ground balls and a caused turnover last week.

• Nixon was named to the Weekly Honor Roll, playing all 120 minutes in goal for MU last week and totaling 21 saves with a .477 save percentage.

• Schumar was also named to the Weekly Honor Roll after going for two goals, seven assists, two ground balls and four caused turnovers on the week.

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST

• Nearing the midway point of the season, Marquette has established itself as one of the top teams in college lacrosse in several statistical categories.

• MU currently ranks first out of 120 DI teams in scoring (18.0), shots per game (40.50), shots on goal per game (29.12), points per game (26.50) and draw controls per game (19.88). It also ranks third in assists per game (8.50).

• Marquette is 11th nationally in RPI, the only team in the RPI top 20 left out of the voting in this week's IWLCA Top-25 poll.

UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS

• Currently sitting at 7-1, Marquette is off to by far its best start to a season in program history and is already approaching its all-time win mark for a season less than half way through the year.

• The Golden Eagles are currently one win shy of tying last season's total win mark, and three wins shy of the program's best-ever win total of 10.

• Additionally, MU has already guaranteed its best-ever win total in non-conference play with still three games to go.

GETTING EVERYONE INVOLVED

• MU has had success this season in finding contributions all across the roster, ranking as the deepest team in the nation according to LacrosseReference.

• Every player on the roster has seen the field this season, with 33 of the 35 appearing in at least two contests.

• 17 different Golden Eagles have already scored a goal this season, including every attacker on the roster and each of the offensive freshmen.

UP NEXT FOR MU

• Marquette returns home to face Ohio State on Tuesday, April 4, at 12 p.m. CT inside of the Valley Fields dome. The game will be streamed on FloSports.

• Links to live stream and stats will be available on GoMarquette.com

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Meg Bireley

Brynna Nixon

Tess Osburn

Mary Schumar