The Marquette women’s lacrosse team is coming home after a 2-1 California roadtrip having won three of its last four. The Golden Eagles lost their last game at Southern California 11-4, but hope to get back on track with two games this weekend.
The Golden Eagles boast two players on this week’s Big East Weekly Honor Roll in junior midfielder Claire Costanza and freshman attack Riley Hill. Costanza and Hill both had huge days against St. Mary’s, contributing a total of six goals in the 15-4 victory. Costanza broke Marquette records for points (10) and assists (seven) in a single game. The 5-foot-2 Webster, N.Y., product leads the team in points (23), assists (13), and is tied for the team lead in goals with 10, but none of this should be a big surprise as she lead the team in points in both 2013 and 2014.
This is Hill’s second Big East award, as she earned Rookie of the Week honors for the week of Feb. 24, after a five-point performance against St. Mary’s with three goals and her first two assists of the year. One of Hill’s assists was on a Costanza goal and all three of Hill’s goals came from a Costanza assist. Hill is having an impressive freshman campaign with seven goals and two assists, good for third on the team in scoring and second in goals scored behind Costanza and redshirt sophomore midfielder Taylor Smith.
Marquette will have even competition this weekend facing off against a 4-3 Michigan team and a 3-4 Detroit Titans.
Michigan is winner of four of its last five games, including a 22-8 win against St. Mary’s March 6. The Wolverines are in just their second season as a program, but despite their youth, they have serious talent. Michigan has four of the Big Ten’s top 10 players in goals per game in Kim Coughlan (2.57), Anna Schueler (2.43), Jess Angerman (2.29) and Tess Korten (2.20). These four players, as well as Lauren Oberlander all have double digit point totals on the season. The Wolverines play in typically high scoring matches, with a scoring ratio of 93-81 and a shooting ratio of 194-177. By contrast, Marquette has a scoring ratio of 50-60 and a shooting ratio of 147-154, which should make for an exciting offensive matchup.
The Golden Eagles’ second opponent will be the Detroit Titans, who have alternated wins and losses on for the entire season, after a 22-8 drubbing of Mercer. The Titans also lost to common opponent California-Davis 13-10 and defeated St. Mary’s 16-6. Detroit has six players in double figures for points on the season and is led by Tessa Kueler with 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists. Kueler’s squad, like Michigan, plays in high scoring match-ups and has 86 goals on 175 shots, allowing 83 goals on 188 shots.
Marquette is 2-0 all-time against Detroit, including a 15-9 victory in Deroit last March. Then-freshman Julianna Shearer had a career day with five goals against the Titans and the Golden Eagles outshot their opponent 28-14.
Marquette will take on Michigan at 5 p.m. Friday at Valley Fields and will see Detroit at 2 p.m. Sunday.
