Women’s lacrosse lost its fourth straight game to a ranked opponent, this time falling to No. 13/9-ranked Colorado 20-6 Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles’ loss drops them to 2-4 on the season. So far all of Marquette’s four losses this year have been to nationally ranked teams. Two of them have been blowouts and two have been tightly contested.
The team Sunday was once again led by Julianna Shearer, Grace Gabriel and Allison Lane. The three each had two-goal games and Gabriel added to her team-leading 15 goals. That was not nearly enough, as Marquette only had 19 shots against the Buffaloes, a season low. The Golden Eagles allowed Colorado to get 38 shots on goal.
Colorado jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Shearer scored Marquette’s first goal 15 minutes into the game. During the first half Marquette committed 13 turnovers, allowing the Buffaloes to control most of the possession and essentially seal the game away from the start. The Golden Eagles had no answer against the undefeated Buffaloes and were outplayed in every statistic. Colorado was led by Cali Castagnola and Johnna Fusco, who each had four-goal games.
Turnovers and fouls have plagued the Golden Eagles in their four losses. The team committed a season-high 40 fouls in Sunday’s contest, which resulted in Colorado earning 11 free-position shots. The Buffaloes converted seven of those shots, including three in the first 15 minutes.
The team will once again hope to end its winless streak against ranked teams when they face Northwestern Saturday. The Wildcats are currently 2-4 and have three losses against top-10 teams. First draw is set for 12 p.m. in Evanston, Illinois.