Marquette’s women’s lacrosse team held on in a close win to beat Temple 12-10 on a beautiful day at Valley Fields.
The win gives the Golden Eagles their second BIG EAST win of the year, a feat the team has never accomplished before. More importantly, the win gives Marquette (5-9, 2-2 BIG EAST) complete control of their own destiny and keeps their BIG EAST tournament hopes alive. Head Coach Meredith Black said the game was a must win and the team embraced the pressure.
“In order to make the tourney we needed to win this game,” Black said. “It’s one of the biggest wins this program has ever had.”
The game was a tale of two halves for Marquette. In the first half the Golden Eagles committed 14 fouls and gave Temple four free-position shots, which led to two goals. The first half saw the Owls control possession and have 19 shots on goal while Marquette was held to only eight. Temple (9-5, 1-3 BIG EAST) would end the half on an 8-2 scoring run that gave them an 8-5 lead going into halftime.
Marquette came out in the second half with much more intensity. The Golden Eagles scored the first seven goals of the second and held Temple scoreless until 4:12. Black said she stressed at halftime to her team that they needed to win possession in order to win the game.
“In the first half they had control of possession and the game,” Black said. “We didn’t have the ball and without the ball you can’t score. I said to them at half just get the ball, whatever it takes, and we came out and did that.”
The team was led in scoring by Allison Lane, Amanda Bochniak and Julianna Shearer, who all had hat tricks. Shearer recorded her 29th goal of the season, breaking Marquette’s single-season record for goals.
“I mean it’s cool, but honestly winning this game was a lot bigger and I’m glad our team came out so strong,” Shearer said.
Defensively Marquette came up with key stops down the stretch. Goalie Sarah Priem had seven saves in net to go along with three caused turnovers and five ground balls. Black credits the team’s tenacious defense and her teams will to win as the difference maker.
“That will to win, that we’ve been focusing on a lot this season that we need to work on, I think today came through,” Black said. “They knew it wasn’t going to be perfect the whole game, but we found a way.”
Marquette will remain at home and play Vanderbilt (5-8, 1-3 BIG EAST) on Wednesday afternoon. The team hopes it will carry its momentum into Wednesdays game.
“We got to win, if we win these next three games we will go to the tournament,” Black said. “it’s a huge game.”
