MLAX heads to No. 12/13 Villanova for final road game

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team plays its final regular season road game on Saturday against No. 12/13 Villanova at Villanova Stadium.

First faceoff in Villanova, Pennsylvania is set for 11 a.m. Central time and the game airs live on the BIG EAST Digital Network through FloSports with Nick Mantegna on the call.

Live statistics are available through GoMarquette.com, courtesy of Villanova Athletics.

MU then closes the regular season on Friday, April 28 against No. 11/12 Denver in Milwaukee for Senior Night.

MARQUETTE (6-6, 1-2 BIG EAST): The Golden Eagles fell to 1-2 in BIG EAST Conference play with a heartbreaking 15-14 overtime loss to then-No. 9/10 Georgetown on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee. BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Lucas Lawas made 15 saves in his first career start, while senior attackman Devon Cowan posted four goals and Jake Stegman added a pair of goals along with four helpers. The Golden Eagles led with eight minutes remaining but needed two goals in the final 1:02 to send the game to extra time where GU's Tucker Dordevic scored the winner 2:12 into overtime.

Marquette owns victories this season over a pair of teams currently ranked No. 5 (Penn State) and No. 19/18 (Michigan) as well as wins over the St. John's, St. Bonaventure, Lindenwood and Detroit Mercy.

Stegman leads MU with career-highs of 15 goals and 42 points, along with a program single-season record 27 assists. Sophomore Bobby O'Grady has a team-best 33 goals, while Cowan has scored 21 times and four other Golden Eagles have at least 10 scores. Cowan (81 career goals) and O'Grady (78 career goals) are now second and third all-time, respectively, in program history in goals scored.

VILLANOVA (9-3, 2-1 BIG EAST): The Wildcats improved to 9-3 overall and 2-1 in the BIG EAST with a 20-8 victory over Providence on Saturday as goalie Will Vitton made 14 saves to become Villanova's all-time winningest goalie with his 35th career victory.

All-American midfielder Matt Campbell posted four goals in the win over PC and became Villanova's all-time points leader against St. John's on April 1. He currently leads the BIG EAST with 4.58 points per contest, while teammate Patrick Daly is second in the league with 34 goals (2.83 per game). The Wildcats average a league-best 46.58 shots per game and are second in scoring behind Georgetown at 13.42 goals per game.

VU began the season with a 14-12 win over Penn State and owns non-conference triumphs over Delaware, Hofstra, Penn and Navy. The lone conference blemish for the Wildcats was a 12-6 loss at Denver on April 8.

HISTORY WITH THE WILDCATS: Villanova leads the all-time series against Marquette, 8-3, and has won each of the last six meetings, including a 10-8 win over MU at Valley Fields last season.

Luke Keating scored five goals for Villanova last year and MU received two goals apiece from O'Grady, Stegman and Luke Blanc. Marquette goalie Michael Allieri posted 17 saves in that contest and the teams played to the equivalent of statistical draws in shots (VU, 42-41), ground balls (VU, 27-26), faceoffs (11-11), saves (17-17) and turnovers (VU, 13-12).

The Golden Eagles are 1-4 against the Wildcats at Villanova Stadium and their lone victory was a 10-9 overtime decision on April 1, 2017.

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT COMING INTO FOCUS
With just six men's lacrosse teams in the BIG EAST, conference tournament seeding can come down the final day of league action. Only the top four teams qualify for the tournament, which will be held May 4-6 at Valley Fields in Milwaukee.

Georgetown is the lone team undefeated entering the weekend at 3-0 while Villanova and Denver are each 2-1 and MU and Providence are 1-2. A number of different scenarios could play out over the final two weeks, with tie-breakers likely to be employed in the final standings. If ties cannot be broken, a coin flip is conducted.

The top-three tie-breaking scenarios are as follows (there are eight total):

Regular season head-to-head results. If three or more teams are tied, they are viewed as a "mini-conference" when comparing head-to-head results. The team with the best combined record versus the other teams in the mini-conference gains the advantage.
Each team's record versus the team occupying the highest position in the standings, continuing down the standings until one team gains an advantage.
Each team's mini-conference goal differential (maximum of seven goals per game.)

NOTE: When breaking a multi-way tie either via record or goal differential, the team(s) at the bottom of the tie is/are eliminated first.

OFFENSIVE DEPTH ON DISPLAY AGAINST ST. JOHN'S
The Golden Eagles scored a season-high 20 goals in the April 8 win over St. John's and multiple players scored their first goals of the season. Sophomore Nolan Garcia and junior Justin Mintzer each scored in the fourth quarter, while freshman Charlie Reynolds posted his first career goal with six seconds remaining in the third. Reynolds added two more scores in the fourth period for his first career hat trick. In addition to those three individuals, redshirt freshman Conor McCabe scored his second goal of the year with five minutes left in regulation and graduate student Holden Patterson added a pair of goals in the final 50 seconds.

VETERAN ATTACKMEN ARE KEY FOR MU
Seniors Devon Cowan and Jake Stegman have proven their importance to Marquette this season and have each reached significant career milestones in recent weeks.

Stegman was averaging two assists per game as Marquette's X-attackman but has played out of the box since the win over Penn State. He is second in Marquette history with 52 career assists, behind only Conor Gately (63). Stegman has 27 assists this season, surpassing Gately's freshman campaign total of 20 in 2013 for the highest single-season total in program history.

Cowan is second on MU with 21 goals despite playing nine contests so far due to injury. He was slowly worked into action against Michigan and scored a late goal in the victory. He notched hat tricks in the three games that followed and became the fourth player in Marquette history to reach 100 career points with two goals against St. John's on April 8. He currently has 81 career goals, second to only Ryan McNamara's 102 in MU history.

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 12 games is first in NCAA Division I in ground balls per game (5.33) among close defensemen. Overall, he's 37th nationally in ground balls per game and, in total, has posted a career-high seven points (five goals, two assists), 64 ground balls and forced 14 turnovers.

In the BIG EAST opener at PC, Woodward moved past Zachary Melillo (190 GB; 2016-18) and assistant coach Jacob Richard (193 GB; 2013-16) for second in MU history in career ground balls (he now has 206). Marquette all-time ground ball leader Liam Byrnes (218) is still 12 ground balls ahead of Woodward.

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 27 games of his NCAA career he's third in program history in career goals (78) and the all-time leader in man-up scores (18).

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 four times for his play against Utah, Notre Dame, St. Bonaventure and St. John's.

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. Evans saw his first extended action of the season against Bellarmine on March 11 and currently sits as the MU and BIG EAST leader in faceoff percentage at .607 (54-of-89).

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).