The No. 13/12 Marquette men’s lacrosse team’s miraculous winning streak is finished. The team is aware that doesn’t mean their season is over too.
“We were never going to go undefeated,” coach Joe Amplo said. “I don’t think we have to falsely motivate our guys. They’re internally motivated enough. We certainly have to use this as a learning experience… You grow more from your losses than your victories.”
The goose egg in the loss column was eliminated Saturday when Georgetown handed the Golden Eagles their first loss of the season in a 10-9 battle, just the second time in program history the team has lost a one goal game. Marquette is already looking ahead to next weekend, but is using the loss as added motivation.
“We know what could happen to us if we don’t play well, so it’s just fire to us,” sophomore attackman Kyran Clarke said. “We always have to be on top of our game.”
The Golden Eagles went down 8-2 at half, but mounted yet another comeback effort. Junior midfielder Blaine Fleming tied the game at 9, but the Hoyas scored the game-winning goal with just less than four minutes left.
The loss to Georgetown makes this weekend’s game against Villanova even more pivotal for a potential tournament bid if the team does not win the Big East tournament. With tough games against No. 6/6 Duke, No. 2/2 Notre Dame and No. 5/5 Denver remaining on the schedule, a loss to the Wildcats, who are receiving votes in both polls, would mean they’d likely need to upset one of the other three to be in the conversation for an at-large bid.
To avoid losing a second game in a row, the Golden Eagles may need to overcome playing with a shorthanded roster. The team could be without two of its top offensive producers, including the team’s leading scorer, graduate student attackman Jordan Greenfield. Both Greenfield and redshirt junior midfielder Kyle Whitlow were given unsportsmanlike conduct penalties following the final whistle.
“I know I watched it on film and I saw both guys run past the official and definitely say something,” Amplo said. “They made a big mistake. They have to learn from that experience.”
The penalty was Greenfield’s second in the final five minutes of the game. He and Amplo were each given unsportsmanlike penalties at the 4:48 mark, resulting in the go-ahead Georgetown goal on the two-man advantage.
“The things that were said and done at the end of the game and in the last few minutes, that’s not what Marquette lacrosse is,” Amplo said. “It starts with me. It starts with my actions on the sideline and it trickles down to our players.”
Any further discipline will be announced in the coming days.
The Golden Eagles fell behind in the first half against Georgetown, but started to look like their normal selves during their 7-1 run in the second half. The team believes they need to play up to the same standard for four quarters to defeat Villanova.
“I think we need to be cleaner,” Amplo said. “We have a thing called pass count. When the pass count gets into the upper 20s, we typically get a really good look at the cage. I don’t think we got our pass count up to 20 more than one or two times in the second half.”
“Early in the game we struggled to get patient in our offense,” Clarke said. “Not playing for two weeks, we were trying to go to the net too quick and forced passes that weren’t there. Once we got comfortable I felt our offense was clicking as normal.”
