WLAX Falls to No. 3 Northwestern Friday Night, 19-9

The Marquette University women's lacrosse team fell 19-9 to No. 3 Northwestern Friday night at Valley Fields.

The Golden Eagles (4-2, 0-0 BIG EAST) were led by Meg Bireley who had two goals and two assists. Tess Osburn hit 100 points for her career after her sixth hat trick of the season in as many games.

I liked everything about the team's fight the entire game," Marquette head coach Meredith Black said. "We came out fearless the whole game and when we got down a lot, we ended up being able to close that gap and be threatening again."

Tess Osburn scored the first goal of the game 41 seconds in. Marquette trailed by two after the first, 6-4, before Northwestern used a 7-1 second quarter to go into the break up 13-5.

The Golden Eagles outscored the Wildcats six goals to four in the second half. Brynna Nixon had 11 saves and became the third player in program history to have over 300 career saves, joining Jules Horning (2017-21) and Sarah Priem (2013-16).

No. 3 Northwestern (6-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) was led by Madison Taylor, who had eight goals.

NOTABLES:

Meg Bireley became the third player in program history to hit 400 shots for their career, joining Lydia Foust (2019-23) and Grace Gabriel (2016-19).
Brynna Nixon had 11 saves, her second-straight game with 10-or-more saves.
Lauren Grady had her third game of the season with multiple goals.
Addyson Graham had a career-high two caused turnovers.

UP NEXT: Marquette travels to Boulder, Colorado to take on the Buffaloes on Tuesday, March 11 at 2 p.m. CT.
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).