The Marquette women’s lacrosse team lost its fourth and fifth consecutive games over Easter break to Temple and Villanova, respectively.
After dropping their previous three games on the road, the Golden Eagles returned to the friendly confines of Valley Fields looking to get back on track Thursday against Temple. However, the team came out to a slow start and put themselves in a 2-0 hole after just 10 minutes of play.
“We came out a little bit flat in the first half and not quite ready and I think that hurt us,” coach Meredith Black said.
Marquette got on the board a quarter of the way through the game, courtesy of Anna Muzika. The redshirt sophomore midfielder beat the keeper for her second goal in as many games. For the rest of the half, the teams traded goals, with Temple going two for one. Marquette got goals from freshman attacker Devyn Atolini and sophomore midfielder Hayley Bass. Temple headed to the locker rooms up 7-3 at the half.
The second half was a tightly contested affair, as the teams once again traded goals. Marquette came out of the locker room and scored two goals to make it 7-5 at the 25-minute mark. However, the Owls answered to give themselves a four-goal advantage after 13 minutes. Freshman Amanda Bochniak continued her excellent campaign, scoring with 16:33 to go. She finished with two goals on the day.
Neither team scored for the next 13 minutes, as the Owls held 9-6 lead over the Golden Eagles. Junior attacker Nicole Gleason made it a 9-7 game, until Temple scored two goals in the final 40 seconds, leading the Owls to an 11-7 victory.
“What we take is that we have to believe that no matter the opponent we are able to win the game,” Black said.
Saturday, the Marquette homestand moved to Hart Park in Wauwatosa, as the Golden Eagles played the Villanova Wildcats.
For the second game in a row, Black’s squad came out to a slow start, as ‘Nova grabbed the first two goals of the game. Sophomore attacker Kenzie Brown got Marquette on the board, but the Wildcats quickly made it 3-1. The next few minutes favored the Golden Eagles, as sophomore Claire Costanza scored twice to tie the match at three. After both sides scored one goal each, Villanova tallied four consecutive goals to give the Wildcats an 8-4 advantage at the break.
“Our team being so young and new they like to assess the situation before going all out,” Black said. “In the first half they took a little bit of time to assess and that’s when Villanova scored some goals on us.”
It was more of the same when play resumed after halftime, as ‘Nova scored two more before Gleason stopped the bleeding at the 25-minute mark. The next 13 minutes were all Marquette, as the team scratched and clawed its way back to make it a 10-9 game. This was due in part to two goals by Gleason, a pair by Bochniak, and another by Baas. With the rally nearly complete and plenty time remaining, the Golden Eagles believed the game was theirs. Unfortunately, the teams were locked in a stalemate the rest of the way and the Golden Eagles dropped their fifth consecutive game.
“They are fighters. They never give up and as a coach you have to be so proud of a team like that,” Black said. “I wish we would have come out with a little bit more fire in the first half and I think we would have had that game.”
The Golden Eagles look to finish the season on a high note, as they head to Louisville Thursday before returning to the Valley for their last game of the regular season Sunday against the USC Trojans.
