The Marquette women’s lacrosse team looked to send its seniors off with one final home victory Saturday, but despite a strong second half rally, the Golden Eagles lost to Georgetown 8-7.
Marquette (4-12, 0-6) trailed 8-3 with 22:03 remaining in the second half and appeared to have all but lost the game. However, three goals in 2:51, including two in 46 seconds, gave the home team new life. With 13:06 left and trailing 8-6, the Golden Eagles only managed to score once more, falling a single goal short of an extra period.
“I’m so proud of the team,” Marquette coach Meredith Black told GoMarquette.com. “We’re fighters. This team is committed to getting better every day, even though our record hasn’t gone our way, and I think it’s paying off. It’s super disappointing to come out with the loss, but I really feel as though we’re moving in the right direction.”
Redshirt junior Emily Donovan made the most of her final home appearance, scoring two goals in 46 seconds to bring her team within two, and also added an assist. Junior midfielder Hayley Baas also contributed two goals and senior attack Nicole Gleason made her presence felt with a goal and an assist.
Georgetown (6-9, 5-1) relied on three of its top four scorers as midfielder Kristen Bandos and attacks Corinne Etchison and Caroline Tarzian all had two goals on the day. In net, Golden Eagles goalie Sarah Priem made 11 saves on 19 shots faced in perhaps her best game of the season.
Black reiterated the importance of shot accuracy and draw controls after her team’s loss at Vanderbilt, and clearly it made a difference. All 14 of the Golden Eagles’ shots were on target and despite losing the faceoff battle 6-3 in the first half, they tied the Hoyas in the category 4-4 in the second.
Marquette fell into an early hole, as the Hoyas scored on four of their first five shots of the game. But a Georgetown turnover forced by Claire Costanza, followed by a timeout from Black turned the tide with 14:49 remaining in the half. Senior Nicole Gleason and freshman Riley Hill each scored in two minutes, cutting the Hoya lead in half with 12:18 to go. Marquette and Georgetown traded goals before the halftime whistle blew and the Golden Eagles trailed 5-3 at the break. Priem made six saves on 11 shots faced and although Marquette trailed 6-3 in draw controls, it won the turnover and ground ball battles in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half began just as the first half, as the Hoyas scored on three of their first four shots in the half, opening an 8-3 advantage with 22 minutes to play. The game was a standstill offensively for the next eight minutes, marred by turnover by both teams, but a Baas rip at the 15:57 mark gave the Golden Eagles much-needed momentum. Marquette would score twice more in the next 2:05 and the Golden Eagles were in business with 13:06 to go. Baas scored again with 5:45 left, but Marquette never managed to find the game-tying goal, despite a free position shot attempt, which was stopped. The Golden Eagles never got another chance and the Hoyas escaped, 8-7.
For eight Golden Eagles, including starters Gleason and Jenaye Coleman, it was their final game in the home Marquette uniforms. Gleason is the team’s second-leading scorer with 19 goals on the year and Coleman has 16 caused turnovers for the 2015 campaign.
“(Our seniors) are amazing,” Black told GoMarquette.com. “All eight of them have made such a huge impact on this program. They have been here since day one and have set the tone for what this team is all about. They help us strive for a tradition of excellence that we work for every single day.”
With a Big East tournament bid unlikely, Marquette will close out the season in Cincinnati at 1 p.m. Saturday.
