MLAX kicks off 2024 at Air Force on Saturday

UPDATE (2/2/24): Due to the weather forecast in Colorado Springs, Saturday's game will now be played indoors at the Holaday Athletic Center. Capacity is limited to around 200 individuals and the live broadcast has been canceled because of limitations in the HAC.

Game Notes (PDF) | Live Stats | Season Preview

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team begins its 2024 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 3 in Colorado Springs, Colorado against the United States Air Force Academy at Holaday Athletic Center.

First faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. Central time (noon local) and live statistics will be available through GoMarquette.com, courtesy of USAFA.

The contest marks the beginning of the 12th season of NCAA Division I competition for the Golden Eagles and the fifth in the tenure of head coach Andrew Stimmel.

MARQUETTE (0-0, 0-0 BIG EAST)

The Golden Eagles return a veteran core that is projected to place third in the BIG EAST Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. MU returns eight of 10 starters from last season, including Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Mason Woodward and preseason all-conference selections Devon Cowan and Bobby O'Grady.
Cowan jumped into third place in the Marquette record book last season with 114 career points, and his 86 career goals trail only Ryan McNamara's 102 and teammate Bobby O'Grady's 88.
O'Grady had six goals in the 2023 season finale against then-No. 10 Denver and paced the Golden Eagles with 40 goals last season.
Graduate midfielder Jake Stegman had a program-record 32 assists in 2023 and tied for the team lead with O'Grady at 49 points.
In total, the Golden Eagles return 94 percent of their offensive production from the highest-scoring team (13.29 goals per game) in program history.
Head coach Andrew Stimmel is in his fifth season as MU's program steward. He also served one year as a MU assistant coach in 2016 during the team's first BIG EAST championship season.

AIR FORCE (0-0, 0-0 ASUN)

The Falcons are predicted to finish third in the ASUN preseason coaches' poll after a second-place finish during last year's regular season. They went 11-6 overall and 7-2 in league action last year.
Defenseman Chris Bardak and midfielder Aidan Tolen are preseason All-ASUN selections.
Air Force reached its first-ever ASUN Championship game in 2023 as then-junior goalie Jason Rose recorded 18 saves in a semifinal victory over Robert Morris. The Falcons fell, 11-9, to top-seeded Utah in the title game.
Air Force must replace leading scorer and reigning ASUN Player of the Year Brandon Dodd, who posted 41 goals and 75 points in 2023.
The Falcons are led by sixth-year head coach Bill Wilson.

HISTORY WITH THE FALCONS

Marquette leads the all-time series 2-1 but dropped the most recent meeting 16-9 to the Falcons on March 26, 2022, in the seasonal dome at Valley Fields.
The Air Force series holds special significance to Marquette as the Golden Eagles claimed their first win in program history at Falcon Stadium, 8-6, on March 2, 2013, during MU's inaugural season of competition.
MU also won 7-6 in Air Force's first visit to Milwaukee in 2017.

WOODWARD IS ELITE

Close defenseman Mason Woodward is a consensus preseason All-American and the unanimous BIG EAST Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
The four-time team captain is a three-time USILA All-American and garnered third team honors last season.
Woodward led the Golden Eagles in caused turnovers in each of his first four seasons and is the program's all-time leader in ground balls per game (4.71 per contest entering 2023).
He was the BIG EAST leader in ground balls among non-faceoff specialists in each of the last three 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).
Marquette all-time ground ball leader Liam Byrnes (218) is just six ground balls ahead of Woodward.
Woodward's 66 caused turnovers are also second to Byrnes (102) in team history.

MU LOADED WITH EXPERIENCE

Marquette returns 10 graduate students in addition to 14 other seniors looking to get MU back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since consecutive appearances in 2016-17.
Three-time USILA All-American Mason Woodward is back for a fifth year, as are fellow captains Devon Cowan, Jake Stegman, Noah Verlinde and Luke Williams. Cowan, Stegman and Williams all made late decisions last spring to return for 2024.
Stegman leads the MU contingent entering this season with 46 career games played, while Woodward, Max Kruszeski, Verlinde and Cowan have each played over 40 games at MU. Faceoff specialist Grant Evans played 54 games over four seasons at NCAA Division III Grove City College (2019-22) and 12 last year for Marquette.

MU HAS VETERAN OFFENSIVE PIECES

Cowan and Stegman return alongside junior scoring dynamo Bobby O'Grady to lead an offense that ranked as the highest scoring in program history last spring with 13.29 goals per contest and brings back 94 percent of its point production.
O'Grady and Cowan have 88 and 86 career goals, respectively, and are within striking distance of Ryan McNamara's program record of 102.
Stegman has 57 career assists, just six behind Conor Gately's MU record of 63.
Stegman set a single-season program record with 32 assists in 2023 (12 more than the previous record set by Gately in 2013). The Naperville, Illinois native switched to a spot in MU's first midfield unit during league play and responded with his first all-conference season.

BRANDT PRIMED FOR EARLY ROLE

True freshman attackman Carsen Brandt impressed during the preseason and could be the third starter alongside Cowan and O'Grady. The 6-foot-3 native of Edina, Minnesota is the No. 54 incoming freshman in the country, according to Inside Lacrosse, and can act as another offensive catalyst for MU's returning goal scorers.
Brandt had six points (3g, 3a) in the Blue & Gold Scrimmage on Jan. 27 and will benefit from the shooting ability of MU's offensive stars.
Brandt was mentored by former MU All-American and fellow Minnesotan Ryan McNamara and is one of the best prep players to come from the Gopher State. As a junior at Benilde-St. Margaret's, he set state records for most points in state tournament history (21), most points in a tournament game (10) and most assists in a state tournament (12) and most assists in a state tournament game (seven).

O'GRADY VAULTS UP MU RECORD BOOK

Bobby O'Grady burst onto the scene as the 2022 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and has scored at an elite pace in his first two seasons at Marquette (3.02 goals per game).
Through just 29 games of his NCAA career he's second in program history in career goals (88) and the all-time leader in man-up scores (19).
He 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.

DEEP AT THE DOT

Marquette's faceoff unit got a much-needed boost with the return of graduate faceoff specialists Luke Williams, a 2022 All-BIG EAST selection, and Grant Evans for their final seasons of eligibility.
Two of the four seasons that Marquette has faced-off at above a 50-percent clip have come in the last two campaigns.
Williams ranks fourth in MU history with a career mark of .516 and seventh all-time with 122 ground balls.
Evans saw his first significant playing time at MU on March 11, 2023 with eight wins on 12 draws against Bellarmine. He followed that up with a 10-of-13 performance with six ground balls and a goal in the victory over then-No. 5 Penn State.
Evans posted a season-long win percentage of .542 (77-of-142) last season and was second on the squad with 47 ground balls.
Evans was a graduate transfer last year from NCAA Division III Grove City College, where he was the NCAA statistical champion in faceoff win percentage (.795) as a freshman in 2019.

SCHEDULE SIMILAR TO 2023

The Golden Eagles will play a nearly identical schedule to the one they faced last season, save for this year's season opener at Air Force on Feb. 3.
That game against the Falcons replaces last year's mid-April matchup at then-No. 7/6 Cornell.
MU hosts Lindenwood at Valley Fields on the weekend of National Marquette Day in a Friday, Feb. 9 matinee to begin a season-long three-game homestand. The Golden Eagles close the homestand on Sunday, Feb. 18 against the reigning-national champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish before facing 2023 regional finalist Michigan back in Naples, Florida.
MU beat the Wolverines, 14-9, last season in the same event, the Southwest Florida Shoot-Out at Paradise Coast Sports Complex.
The Golden Eagles also picked up a neutral site victory over then-No. 5 Penn State last season on Long Island, but will face the Nittany Lions on Saturday, March 16 at Springfield High School in suburban Philadelphia. PSU advanced to the NCAA national semifinals last year.

TEAM USA TIES TO MU LACROSSE

Former Golden Eagles Liam Byrnes and current assistant coach Jake Richard helped Team USA to its 11th gold medal in the 2023 World Lacrosse Men's Championship from June 21-July 1 in San Diego, California. Byrnes and Richard are long-time members of the American training team and were selected to the active roster for the event in the fall of 2022.
Byrnes is all All-Premier Lacrosse League close defenseman and led Waterdogs LC to a league title in 2022, while Richard plays SSDM for Atlas LC. Byrnes also plays box lacrosse in the NLL.
Head coach Andrew Stimmel captured a gold medal in the summer of 2022 as an assistant coach with the Team USA Men's Under-21 Team at the World Lacrosse Men's U-21 Championship in Limerick, Ireland.

McNAMARA INDUCTED TO M CLUB HALL OF FAME

All-time scoring leader Ryan McNamara (2014-17) officially became the second MU men's lacrosse player inducted into the Marquette Athletics M Club Hall of Fame on Saturday, Jan. 27, joining former teammate Liam Byrnes (2012-16) in the exclusive club.
At the time of his induction McNamara was the only player in program history with over 150 points and 100 goas. The two-time USILA All-American played five professional seasons in the MLL and PLL after graduation.

HOME GAMES ON FLOSPORTS

Nearly all home games for both MU men's and women's programs will be broadcast live on FloSports, the BIG EAST Conference's digital rights holder. Discounted rates for FloSports accounts are available by signing up through the Marquette portal for either men's or women's (signing up with either link will work for both sports).
Most BIG EAST games, home- and road-contests, will be available through FloSports. Scott Sudikoff will handle play-by-play duties on most broadcasts from the Valley with Eric Simon as the analyst, while local announcer Matt Menzl will also assist.
The game against reigning-national champion Notre Dame on Sunday, Feb. 18 airs live through the Marquette Athletics YouTube channel for free.

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).

Marquette University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Carsen Brandt

Devon Cowan

Grant Evans

Max Kruszeski

Bobby O'Grady

Jake Stegman

Noah Verlinde

Luke Williams

Mason Woodward

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