After dropping four consecutive matches, the Marquette women’s lacrosse squad would like to start winning again.
To do that, it must fend off two streaking teams this weekend at Valley Fields. The Golden Eagles face Villanova tomorrow and Rutgers Sunday. The Wildcats are riding a three-game winning streak, while the Scarlet Knights have won six in a row.
Freshman attacker Emily Hauptle is looking forward to playing more demanding games and thinks it might be just what Marquette needs to start winning again.
“We’re kind of on a losing streak right now, and I think we’re really hungry for a win,” Hauptle said. “I think that’s going to propel us through these two games. It’s important that we get a Big East win, and I think we all really want it.”
After an 18-4 loss to Harvard Tuesday, coach Meredith Black knows the task of defeating a pair of quite successful programs will be a hard one.
“What we really need to do is work on our own hustle and game and give it the best we got,” Black said. “We haven’t been doing great on 50-50 ground balls. If we can win those 50-50 balls, we’ll be in good shape.”
Hauptle believes it’s a matter of solid team chemistry over this weekend that could help the Golden Eagles snap out of their funk.
“I think we’ve been working a lot on feeding off of each other,” Hauptle said. “If one player on the team does something amazing, we need to be inspired.”
Marquette enters Friday’s match with a 2-6 record. Being a team of mostly freshmen this season, the Golden Eagles lack experience all year. That can play a large role in losses, especially against potent teams such as Villanova and Rutgers.
“It’s a big impact,” Black said. “As much as you want to fight through that, you can’t. You can’t argue with the fact (that) they’re all freshmen. On Friday it will be our fifth game in 10 or 11 days, and it’s a lot to expect of them.”
Hauptle has noticed that in almost all the games so far, the team’s intensity on the field has varied. The Golden Eagles at times come out strong at the start, but falter as the match draws to a close. Hauptle sees the potential the team has, and wants her teammates to put forth a solid effort against these upcoming Big East foes.
“We need a game where we’re all-out all throughout the game,” Hauptle said. “That might be a little bit experience-based, but we have so much talent on this team. We’ve had some really standout people, so I think every game we have a couple people step up and have amazing games. If we can all play at that amazing level that we know we can, then we can really make an impact on the game.”
Villanova enters tomorrow’s game 1-3 on the road, providing Marquette a chance to pull off a victory. Black knows that no wins come easily – especially in the inaugural season – but sees promise in the team’s willingness to compete.
“No mater what the score is, they don’t give up,” Black said. “They really want to learn and get better. They really work hard to implement what we’re telling then. You can’t ask for anything else than that.”
