The Marquette women’s lacrosse team came off an overtime thriller for its first win on the year against Duquesne and followed it up with a 2-1 record during a three-game slate in California.
The Golden Eagles won their second consecutive overtime game, 5-4, defeating the Aggies of California-Davis and extended the winning streak to three with a 15-4 thrashing of St. Mary’s before falling to Southern California Sunday, 11-4.
In the Mar. 10 victory against UC-Davis, redshirt sophomore midfielder Taylor Smith picked upright where she left off in her last game. Against Duquesne, Smith had a career-high four goals, the game winner and stayed hot with two goals against UC-Davis.
But this time, there was a new hero as redshirt junior attack Emily Donovan ripped one past the Aggie net-minder Kai Murphy with 2:14 remaining in the OT period. The Golden Eagles shelled Murphy with 18 shots on net, whereas UC-Davis managed to be on target with just six attempts, forcing only two saves from Marquette junior goaltender Sarah Priem. The Golden Eagles opened the game on a 3-0 tear, but managed just two more goals during the next 37 minutes of play, which was just enough to get by.
After two straight high pressure match-ups, the Golden Eagles had a more favorable opponent in the St. Mary’s Gaels, a team that allows an average of 20 goals per game.
Marquette cruised to a 15-4 victory, carried by a 10-goal first half and a 10-point performance from junior attack Claire Costanza on three goals and seven assists. Costanza set a school record for points and assists in the game in leading Marquette to its first three-game winning streak in program history.
“Claire Costanza had an outstanding performance,” Marquette coach Meredith Black told GoMarquette.com of Costanza’s historical day. “Seven assists and three goals. She stepped up as a leader today and it was really great. Everyone followed her lead.”
Freshman attack Riley Hill also had a hat trick and Nicole Gleason, Hayley Baas and Emily Donovan all added two goals. Twenty-two of the Golden Eagles’ shots were on net and Priem allowed just two goals in one half of play, before bowing out to junior Emma Salter for the next 30 minutes.
The final game of the road trip would be the biggest test to the Golden Eagles in the form of the 5-2 USC Trojans, whose only two losses came at the hands of top-20 ranked Stony Brook and in a 12-11 OT loss to No. 7 Northwestern.
USC proved to be too much for the Golden Eagles as Trojan sophomore attack Kylie Drexel ripped five shots past Priem and added seven assists in the 11-4 victory. The Trojans raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first half, but the Golden Eagles did not give in easily, battling back to cut the Trojan lead to just 5-4 at the half.
Marquette freshman midfielder Allison Lane had her best performance of the season with two goals in the opening 20 minutes, but it was not enough to keep the Golden Eagles in the game. Marquette did not score again in the game and the Trojans put six shots home, Drexel having a hand in five of them, including scoring the last three. Priem managed just one save on seven shots on-net in the half and the Golden Eagles committed 19 fouls in the last 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagles (3-4) will next face Michigan at Valley Fields Friday at 5 p.m.
