MLAX Falls 14-13 at Villanova

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VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania – The Marquette University men's lacrosse team lost 14-13 heart-breaker to Villanova on Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium.

The Golden Eagles (6-6, 1-3 BIG EAST) led by a pair, 13-11, on Bobby O'Grady's fourth goal with 4:22 remaining in regulation, but allowed three Villanova goals in 41 seconds for their third BIG EAST Conference loss.

O'Grady had four goals and six points to lead MU, which received a hat trick and assist from Nolan Rappis and another four points from Will Foster. Foster scored a third quarter goal and notched three assists to become the seventh player in Marquette history to reach 100 points in a career.

Foster's 100th career point was an assist on O'Grady's final score, which gave MU a two-goal lead until 2:11 remaining when Matt Licata's fourth goal started the Villanova comeback. Licata added another just 11 seconds later and Luke Raymond put the finishing touches on the VU comeback with 1:30 to play.

Licata posted a game-high five goals for Villanova (7-5, 4-0 BIG EAST), which out-shot MU, 55-34.

Marquette goalie Lucas Lawas made 14 saves, marking the third game in a row and the fifth time in the last six games that he's posted at least 14 stops.

NOTABLE:

Foster is just the third player in program history to reach 100 career points with at least 50 goals and 50 assists (Ryan McNamara and Conor Gately are the others).
MU was 3-for-3 with the man advantage on Saturday with extra-man goals from Matt Caputo and Andrew Bowman. As a team, the Golden Eagles entered the contest fourth in the nation on man-up opportunities with a .560 success rate (14-of-25).
First-year MU head coach Jake Richard is a native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, which lies just over 20 miles to the southwest of Villanova's campus.
VU is the lone unbeaten team in BIG EAST play at 4-0, including one-goal wins over MU and at then-No. 20 Denver in overtime.
Marquette is just 3-11 all-time against Villanova and has dropped each of the last nine contests.
VU won the last matchup with MU at Villanova Stadium in overtime, 16-15, on April 22, 2023, and is 6-1 against MU at home.
MU freshman close defenseman Brady Nicholas posted four ground balls, his second-highest total of the season. Two of Nicholas' ground balls and outlet passes led to MU transition goals.
Caputo had a late fourth quarter goal waived off after the officials ruled he went in the crease on a dodge from the left side of the cage. If the goal had counted, MU would have gone up 14-11 with 3:33 remaining in regulation.

UP NEXT: The Golden return to Milwaukee to host Denver on Friday, April 25 for the program's senior day celebration. MU will honor 14 student-athletes plus three senior team managers.

Keep up with the Marquette men's lacrosse program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteMLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteMLax) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteMLax).