WLAX Hosts Villanova Saturday for Senior Day

MILWAUKEE - Marquette University women's lacrosse hosts Villanova on Saturday, April 27 for Senior Day.

Faceoff is at 12 p.m. CT inside the dome at Valley Fields. The game will be broadcast on YouTube with Scott Sudikoff (play-by-play) and Eric Simon (analyst) on the call.

Saturday will be the 12th meeting all-time between the Golden Eagles and Wildcats, with MU leading the series, 6-5.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

• Winner of Saturday's game clinches the last spot in the BIG EAST Championship next week in Cincinnati, Ohio.

• Marquette has been to the BIG EAST tournament five times before, including each of the last two seasons.
• Winner will face No. 1 seed Denver on Thursday, May 2.

MARQUETTE SENIOR DAY

• Marquette will honor graduating seniors Josie Kropp, Elle Wagner, Sammy Galvin, Jasmine Marval, Faith Chmielewski, Molly Powers, Kaitlyn Huber and Audrey Brett along with senior manager Sofia Heaps and Kiley Root before the game.

BIRELEY BREAKS SINGLE SEASON SCORING RECORD

• Meg Bireley broke the single season goal record with her 59th and 60th goal of the season in a six goal outing at Xavier on Saturday, April 20th.

• The previous record, 59, was set by Lydia Foust in 2023 and Grace Gabriel in 2019.

• The junior attacker became the first player in program history to score 60-or-more goals in a season.

• Birely has 63 goals on the season to rank fifth in the nation and lead the BIG EAST.

• She is one of nine players to score 60-or-more goals this season.

BIRELEY AMONG NATION'S OFFENSIVE LEADERS

• Meg Bireley is fifth in the nation in goals (63), 11th in goals per game (3.94), fourth in shots per game (8.94), and second in shots on goal per game (6.63).

• The junior leads the BIG EAST in every offensive category and has been named BIG EAST Attacker of the Week three times.

KROPP BREAKS SINGLE SEASON DRAW CONTROL RECORD

• Josie Kropp broke the single season draw control record against Georgetown on Saturday, April 13, when she recorded her 120th draw control of the season.

• Kropp has 133 DCs on the season and has had 5-or-more in 13 games this season.

Previous record was held by Grace Gabriel who had 119 during the 2019 season.

JOSIE BIG EAST LEADER

• Josie Kropp leads the league and is 10th in the nation at 8.31 draw controls per game.

• The junior midfielder is 10th in the nation with 133 draw controls this season.

• Kropp had a single game record tying 17 draw controls at Detroit Mercy on Wednesday, Feb. 28.

DRAW DOMINATION

• Marquette is seventh in the nation in draw controls per game (17.75) and 23rd in draw control percentage (57.6 percent).

MU AMONG NATION'S BEST ON OFFENSE

• Marquette is 16th in the NCAA in shots per game (32.88) and 38th in goals per game (13.44).

• The Golden Eagles are 16th in the nation in shots on goal per game (32.88).

Keep up with the Marquette women's lacrosse program all season long through social media by following on X (@MarquetteWLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteWLax) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWLax).