WLAX Set For Final Road Games of Regular Season

The Marquette women's lacrosse team (13-1, 3-0 BIG EAST) looks to build on a 10-game winning streak and its best win total in program history as it heads on the road for its final road games of the season this week, first traveling to Indianapolis to take on Butler (5-7, 1-2) on Wednesday, April 19, at 1 p.m. CT at Varsity Field, then heading east to face Villanova (10-4, 2-2 BIG EAST) at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, April 23. Both games will be streamed on FloSports, with live stat and stream links available at GoMarquette.com.

The Golden Eagles are coming off of an impressive 12-9 win over No. 24 Georgetown on Saturday, the second ranked win in Marquette's program history. MU controlled the game nearly all the way through, starting on an 8-1 run and leading by as many as eight goals before the Huskies made a late push to narrow the gap.

Butler currently sits at 5-7 overall, with a 1-2 start to BIG EAST play. The Bulldogs have lost three-straight, most recently suffering a 26-3 home loss to No. 8 Notre Dame. The team is led by junior midfielder Leah Rubino, who has team-best marks of 35 points and 32 goals this season.

Villanova enters the week 10-4, with a 2-2 conference record, its losses coming to Denver and UConn. The Wildcats have won two-straight, and will play at Xavier Wednesday evening before hosting Marquette. VU has been led by sophomore attacker Sydney Pappas with 52 points and 43 goals.

Marquette has won all six meetings against Butler, including a 24-17 victory last season in Milwaukee. The series against Villanova has been split 5-5, though MU has won the past two and five of the past seven meetings.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

• Butler enters Wednesday's contest with a 5-7 overall mark, and a 1-2 start to BIG EAST play, having beaten Xavier then lost to Denver and Villanova.

• The Bulldogs have lost three-straight games by 10 or more goals, including most recently a 26-3 loss at home to No. 8 Notre Dame last Monday.

• The squad is led by junior midfielder Leah Rubino, who has team-best marks of 35 points and 32 goals this season. Senior attacker Greer Bireley, sister of Marquette's Meg Bireley, leads the team with seven assists.

• In net, sophomore Caroline Smith has started 10 of 12 contests with a 5-6 record. She has a 13.00 goals allowed average with 92 saves and a .422 save percentage.

• Butler averages 10.17 goals per game while allowing 14.50. It ranks third in the conference with 14.67 draws per game, as well as in free position percentage (.476).

SERIES HISTORY VS BUTLER

• Wednesday's game will be the seventh meeting between Marquette and Butler, a series which began in 2017.

• Marquette has won every contest in the series, with an average margin of victory of 12.0 in the six games.

• MU won last year's meeting in Milwaukee, 24-17.

Last 5 Meetings

DATE LOCATION RESULT SCORE

4/16/22 H W 24-17

4/25/21 A W 16-10

4/23/21 A W 18-5

4/6/19 H W 16-3

4/4/18 A W 19-3

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS

• Villanova enters the week 10-4 overall, with a 2-2 conference record. In BIG EAST play, it has wins over Butler and Georgetown, and losses to Denver and UConn.

• The Wildcats have won back-to-back games, most recently taking down Georgetown in a 13-12 road win on Saturday.

• The squad is led by sophomore attacker Sydney Pappas with team-highs of 52 points and 43 goals. Sophomore attacker Sami Carey is close behind with 46 points on 22 goals and 24 assists.

• In net, sophomore Cate Gallagher has started nine games and has a 5-4 record. She holds a 11.94 goals allowed average, with 77 saves and a .425 save percentage.

• Villanova averages 11.86 goals per game, while holding opponents to 10.79, second-fewest in the league. They rank second in the BIG EAST in assists per game at 6.50.

SERIES HISTORY VS VILLANOVA

• Sunday's game will be the 11th meeting between Marquette and Villanova, a series which began in 2013.

• The series has been split evenly, 5-5, though MU has won each of the past two and five of the past seven meetings.

• Marquette won last year's meeting in Milwaukee, 19-14.

Last 5 Meetings

DATE LOCATION RESULT SCORE

4/9/22 H W 19-14

3/28/21 A W 8-7

3/26/21 A L 15-19

3/30/19 H L 13-15

3/24/18 A W 16-12

LAST TIME OUT

• Marquette picked up an important BIG EAST win Saturday in Milwaukee, defeating No. 24 UConn 12-9 for the team's second-ever top-25 win.

• The Golden Eagles used a dominant first half and strong defense throughout to secure the victory. MU opened the game with an 8-1 lead, then saw its lead eventually grow to as many as eight goals before the Huskies used a late surge to inch closer, but couldn't get any closer than three.

• Brynna Nixon made a career-high 14 saves for Marquette, while Shea Garcia went for four goals and an assist and Tess Osburn finished with a hat trick.

GARCIA AND NIXON EARN PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

• After posting strong individual performances in Marquette's win over No. 24 UConn, senior Shea Garcia and sophomore Brynna Nixon earned league honors.

• Garcia led all players in the contest with five points on four goals and an assist, including three goals in the first quarter alone to earn her second-straight BIG EAST Attacker of the Week honor, and her third of the season.

• Nixon was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for the first time after recording a career-high 14 saves with a .609 save percentage on 36 shots faced. She also added four ground balls.

ROAD WARRIORS

• Playing its final two road games of the regular season this week, Marquette has yet to lose on the road with a perfect 6-0 record.

• The Golden Eagles went just 2-8 away from home last season, and with six wins this year have already set a program record for road wins in a season.

CHIP ON THE SHOULDER

• After receiving its first votes in the IWLCA Top 25 in program history last week, Marquette now sits as the first team out of the poll this week.

• Despite their lack of recognition from poll voters, the 13-1 Golden Eagles rank 16th nationally in RPI and have a better RPI than 10 teams in this week's poll.

• Along with MU, there are six total teams with one or fewer loss this season. The other five are each ranked in the top 13.

A NEW POINTS LEADER

• In Marquette's win over Xavier, Shea Garcia moved into the top spot as the program's all-time points leader and became the first Golden Eagle player to ever hit 200 career points.

• The fifth-year senior has tallied 206 total points on 156 goals and 50 assists.

• Garcia ranks second all-time in goals only behind Grace Gabriel's 175. She's also second in free position goals with 33, just one shy of tying the MU record.

SCHUMAR CONTINUES TO MAKE HISTORY

• Last season, Mary Schumar set program records for points (67) and assists (43) in a season. This year, she's already surpassed both marks with at least four games left to play.

• Schumar leads the nation with 3.71 assists per game, a mark which would rank fifth in NCAA history. She ranks 12th nationally in points per game.

• She is also just three assists shy of becoming Marquette's all-time career leader, passing Claire Costanza (2013-17). She currently has 98.

UP NEXT FOR MU

• Marquette returns home for a Senior Day matchup against No. 3 Denver on Saturday, April 29, at 12 p.m. at Valley Fields in Milwaukee.

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