MLAX welcomes Detroit Mercy for Tuesday matinee

Game Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team continues its season-long three-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon against Detroit Mercy at Valley Fields.

Opening faceoff is slated for 2 p.m. Central time in the seasonal dome at Valley Fields and the contest airs live on FloSports with play-by-play announcer Scott Sudikoff on the call. Live statistics are also available through GoMarquette.com.

Tickets for the game are available online, by calling the Marquette Ticket Office at 414-288-GOMU (4668) or at the gate on gameday. Capacity in the dome is limited to just 500 spectators.

New this spring, Marquette Athletics is enforcing a clear bag policy at its athletic venues. Clutch purses, totes and belt bags are permissible, as are bags deemed medically necessary after inspection at the entrance. A further explanation of the policy can be found here.

MARQUETTE (2-0, 0-0 BIG EAST)

The Golden Eagles won their home opener 16-5 over Lindenwood on Friday afternoon as defenseman Mason Woodward became MU's all-time leader in ground balls by eclipsing Liam Byrnes' mark of 218.
Freshman attackman Carsen Brandt posted a game-high six points on his first career hat trick and three assists. Brandt is the BIG EAST Conference Offensive Player of the Week and earned his second freshman of the week honor on Monday.
Woodward was joined by graduate faceoff specialist Luke Williams on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after winning 7-of-10 faceoffs against the Lions and picking up six ground balls.
Junior attackman Bobby O'Grady is currently second in program history with 92 career goals and fifth in points with 105.
Cowan is third in both points (120) and goals (91) on the MU career list.
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 in Cowan and O'Grady.
In total, the Golden Eagles return 94 percent of their offensive production this season 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.

DETROIT MERCY (0-0, 0-0 ASUN)

The Titans open the season on Tuesday against the Golden Eagles after posting a 2-11 record in 2023, including a mark of 0-8 away from home.
UDM will spend its final season in the Atlantic Sun Conference this year before moving to the Northeast Conference next spring.
The Titans were picked to finish eighth in the ASUN preseason coaches' poll, while graduate midfielder Luke Majick was selected to the league's preseason team.
Majick tied for the team lead last season at 31 points with then-freshman Drew Kessenich from Madison, Wisconsin. Kessenich attended Oregon High School, alma mater of MU men's basketball coach Shaka Smart.
Detroit is MU's third-straight ASUN opponent to open the year (MU's two wins are against Air Force and Lindenwood). MU will play a total of five games this season against ASUN members (ASUN favorite Utah on March 2 and at Bellarmine on March 9 are the other two contests).

HISTORY WITH THE TITANS

Marquette is 9-1 all-time against UDM and has won each of the last three meetings.
The Golden Eagles claimed a 10-5 win at Titan Field on March 2, 2023 in the last matchup. Cowan had a hat trick and MU rebounded from a 4-2 halftime deficit for the win.
MU is 3-1 at home against the Titans, including a win in the first home game in program history on April 20, 2013, at Hart Park in nearby Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
The last three matchups at MU have come in the seasonal dome at Valley Fields. MU's lone loss to the Titans was a 15-12 decision at Valley on Feb. 23, 2019.
In addition to games against UDM at Titan Field in Detroit and Hart Park/Valley Fields in the Milwaukee area, the two squads have met in the Midwest Lacrosse Classic in Louisville, Kentucky (2015), Columbus, Ohio (2016) and Pontiac, Michigan (2018). There was also one game played indoors at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac, Michigan during Stimmel's first season as head coach in 2020.

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).
Woodward surpassed the Marquette career ground ball record held by USILA All-American Liam Byrnes (218) with four ground balls against Lindenwood on Feb. 9, 2024.
Woodward's 69 caused turnovers are 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 92 and 91 career goals, respectively, and are within striking distance of Ryan McNamara's program record of 102.
Stegman has 60 career assists, just three 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.

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 31 games of his NCAA career, he's second in program history in career goals (92) and the all-time leader in man-up scores (21).
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.

CREASOR THRIVES NEAR THE CREASE

Graduate transfer Caleb Creasor put forth an impressive effort in his first game in Blue & Gold at Air Force on Feb. 3 with 12 saves to earn his first career victory in net.
The Huntsville, Ontario native earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week after posting two caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls in addition to 12 saves.
Creasor's 12 saves are the most for a goalie in a first start in a Marquette uniform since former All-BIG EAST Performer Cole Blazer recorded 13 in an 11-3 victory over then-No. 5/6 Villanova on April 2, 2016.
Creasor played a total of 16 games during four years at Lehigh and made just one start in 2023. He also posted 10 saves in 53:41 of game action during his career. In addition to the 2020 blanket redshirt year, Creasor did not see the field in 2021 and should have an extra year of NCAA eligibility should he choose to utilize it.
His background as a field player in box lacrosse is evident in his aggressive playing style in net. During the season opener Creasor was out of the crease at times closing angles on shooters and intercepting passes.

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 in the top-seven student-athletes in MU history in both ground balls and faceoff win percentage.
Redshirt freshman Adam Slager from Stoughton, Wisconsin made an impressive career debut in MU's season-opening win at Air Force. In the first playing time of his career, Slager won 8-of-10 draws and picked up four 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.

BRANDT PRIMED FOR EARLY ROLE

True freshman attackman Carsen Brandt impressed during the preseason and is 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.
Brandt earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Feb. 5 for his play in his NCAA debut at Air Force on Feb. 3, scoring his first of two goals on the day to give MU a 2-1 lead it would not relinquish.
He is just the seventh player in MU history to score at least twice in an NCAA debut. The others to accomplish the feat are Andrew Bowman (2023), O'Grady (2022), Cowan (2020), Chris Kirschner (2020), Anthony Orsini (2018) and Conor Bernal (2013).
He followed that up with his first career hat trick and three assists against Lindenwood on Feb. 9 in his home debut to earn another BIG EAST Freshman of the Week award on Feb. 12, in addition to the league's offensive player of the week.
Through two games, Brandt leads Marquette with eight points on five goals and three assists and is the first MU freshman in program history with more than six points his first two NCAA games. Only Jordan Greenfield, a MU graduate transfer in 2015, had more points in his first two games with the Golden Eagles (4 goals, 5 assists).
Brandt is the fifth Marquette freshman to post at least six points in a single game and only the second to do so with a hat trick. Conor Gately notched six points twice during MU's first season of competition in 2013, while Brandt's current teammates Jake Stegman and Will Foster each reached the mark during their rookie campaigns in 2020 and 2022, respectively.
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).

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Players Mentioned

Andrew Bowman

Carsen Brandt

Devon Cowan

Caleb Creasor

Grant Evans

Will Foster

Chris Kirschner

Max Kruszeski

Bobby O'Grady

Adam Slager

Jake Stegman

Noah Verlinde

Luke Williams

Mason Woodward