WLAX Opens BIG EAST Play Saturday at Georgetown

The Marquette women's lacrosse team (9-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) is set to open BIG EAST play this weekend as it travels to take on Georgetown (5-6, 0-0 BIG EAST) on Saturday, April 1, at 2 p.m. CT in Washington, D.C. MU then returns home for its final non-conference game against Ohio State (5-7, 0-0 Big Ten) on Tuesday, April 4 at 12 p.m. CT at Valley Fields. Both games will be streamed on FloSports, with live stat and stream links for both contests available at GoMarquette.com.

Marquette is in the midst of its best program in season history, entering the weekend just one win shy of tying its best all-time win total. The Golden Eagles have won six-straight and are 5-0 on the road this year, most recently coming off a 2-0 road trip with a 18-5 win at Eastern Michigan on Friday and a 17-0 win at Central Michigan on Sunday.

Georgetown will also be making its BIG EAST season debut, entering conference play with a 5-6 overall record. The Hoyas were picked second in the preseason poll. They have been led this season by junior attacker Kylie Hazen, who has a team-best 38 points on 22 goals and 16 assists.

Ohio State enters the contest 5-7 overall, with six of its seven losses coming to teams currently ranked in the IWLCA Top-25. The Buckeyes have been led this season by junior attacker Jamie Lasda with a team-high 41 points on 18 goals and 23 assists.

MU and Georgetown have faced off 12 times, the Hoyas leading the series 3-9 with the teams splitting last year's matchups. Against Ohio State, Marquette is 0-3 including a 18-11 loss to the Buckeyes last season in Columbus.

SCOUTING THE HOYAS

• Georgetown enters the weekend and starts BIG EAST play with a 5-6 overall record.

• The Hoyas are coming off of a 11-10 loss at Penn on Sunday. They have a 3-2 record in home games this season.

• The squad is led by junior attacker Kylie Hazen, who has 38 points on 22 goals and a team-high 16 assists. She also ranks third on the team with 22 draws. Graduate attacker Erin Bakes is the team's top scorer with 25 goals.

• In net, senior Emily Gaven and sophomore Leah Warehime have split time, though Gaven has started all 11 contests and holds a 4-6 record. Gaven has a 14.03 GAA with a .442 save percentage, while Warehime has a 9.82 GAA and a .527 save percentage.

• GU averages 10.73 goals per game, while allowing 11.36. It has the lowest draw control percentage (.449) in the BIG EAST.

SERIES HISTORY VS GEORGETOWN

• Saturday's game will be the 13th all-time meeting between Marquette and Georgetown, MU's most-played series.

• Georgetown holds a 9-3 series lead, and Marquette is 1-4 in Washington D.C.

• Last season, the Golden Eagles beat the Hoyas 14-12 in Milwaukee, then fell 17-13 in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals.

Last 5 Meetings

DATE LOCATION RESULT SCORE

5/5/22 N L 13-17

4/24/22 H W 14-12

4/11/21 A L 10-20

4/9/21 A W 15-9

5/2/19 H L 10-17

SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES

• Ohio State enters Tuesday's contest with a 5-7 overall record and an 0-3 mark in Big Ten play. It is coming off of a 16-6 home win over Louisville on Tuesday.

• Six of OSU's seven losses this year have been to IWLCA Top-25 teams.

• The squad is led by junior attacker Jamie Lasda, who has 41 points on 18 goals and a team-high 23 assists, while also recording 34 draws. Senior attacker Nicole Ferrara is the team's top scorer with 30 goals.

• In net, junior Regan Alexander has started all 12 contests and has a 5-7 record. She's posted a 11.10 GAA with a .484 save percentage and 109 saves.

• The Buckeyes average 10.08 goals per game while allowing 11.17. They rank 20th nationally with a .483 save percentage.

SERIES HISTORY VS OHIO STATE

• Tuesday's game will be the fourth all-time between Marquette and Ohio State.

• The Buckeyes have won all three games in the series, including an 18-11 win last season in Columbus.

• All-time vs current Big Ten teams, Marquette is a combined 1-19.

All-Time Meetings

DATE LOCATION RESULT SCORE

2/20/22 A L 11-18

3/7/20 H L 14-16

3/1/19 A L 9-11

LAST WEEK'S GAMES

• Marquette capped off a perfect March slate with a 2-0 road trip to Michigan, defeating Eastern Michigan 18-5 and Central Michigan 17-9.

• Against, the Eagles, MU recorded a program-record 20 caused turnovers and allowed just eight shots, the fewest ever by a Marquette opponent. Emma Soccodato and Meg Bireley each scored four goals to lead the team.

• At Central Michigan, the Golden Eagles got off to a slow start then used a huge second quarter to pull away, going up by as many as 10 goals in the game. Freshmen Tess Osburn and Isabelle Casucci each had tricks for MU, while Hannah Greving led the team with five points on three goals and a pair of assists.

SOCCODATO AND SCHUMAR NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

• After helping MU to a 2-0 mark last week, Emma Soccodato and Mary Schumar were named the BIG EAST Midfielder and Attacker of the Week, respectively.

• Soccodato totaled six goals, eight ground balls, four caused turnovers and six draw controls on the week. She had a career-high four ground balls in each game, and against EMU went for four goals and three caused turnovers.

• Schumar was once again MU's top facilitator, totaling nine assists to go along with a pair of goals. At Eastern Michigan, she finished with two goals, four assists, a ground ball and a turnover.

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

• Just beyond the midway mark of the season, Marquette has already seen unprecedented success in what has been its best season in program history.

• MU has a chance to tie its best-ever win total (10) this weekend against Georgetown. The Golden Eagles have already won six road games, matching the program's best mark, and is currently riding its longest-ever win streak (6).

• The team has nine non-conference wins already, upping its previous best of six.

SCHUMAR HAVING A HISTORIC YEAR

• After tying Marquette's single-season records in both points and assists last season, Mary Schumar is currently on pace to shatter both records.

• The senior currently ranks as the nation's top facilitator with 4.0 assists per game, and is fifth in the NCAA with 5.3 points per game.

• She currently sits with 40 assists and 53 points, just three assists and 14 points shy of the program records she set last year.

• Additionally, Schumar is just 14 assists away from becoming Marquette's all-time career leader.

UP NEXT FOR MU

• Marquette remains at home next weekend to host first-year program Xavier on Saturday, April 8, at 2:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on FloSports.

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