The Marquette Golden Eagles (3-3) host the No. 16/18 Georgetown Hoyas (6-1) at Valley Fields Saturday afternoon to kick off BIG EAST conference play.
The Golden Eagles have lost their last three games, falling to Bellarmine, Robert Morris and Michigan.
Marquette started off the season with three straight wins, one of which was against a top 10 Ohio State team. However, in their last three games, the offense has screeched to a halt, scoring only five goals per game.
Head coach Joe Amplo thought Marquette lacked urgency in the loss to the Michigan Wolverines.
“Give credit to Michigan,” Amplo said. “They came out with some urgency and we didn’t have the urgency to match it on the defensive end. It’s really more what they were doing than less what we weren’t doing. They just played at a faster pace than we did.”
Freshman attackman Anthony Orsini leads the Golden Eagles in scoring with 10 goals and three assists, but missed the game against Michigan with an injury and his status is unknown for Georgetown. Without him, junior attackman John Wagner, who has tallied nine goals and five assists, will be relied upon to pace the offense.
Marquette is also missing their main faceoff man: senior Zachary Melillo. The program’s all-time leader in faceoff percentage did not play against the Wolverines and it hampered Marquette’s offensive flow. Michigan seized a 13-10 faceoff advantage by game’s end.
The Hoyas enter Saturday’s matchup after having its final non-conference game against Loyola Maryland postponed due to a late winter snowstorm.
Prior to that, a 15-10 loss to Drexel snapped a six-game winning streak which included a victory against now-ranked Robert Morris. During its hot start to the season, Georgetown outscored its opponents 90-62.
Sophomore attackman Jake Carraway leads Georgetown in scoring with 23 goals to go along with 12 assists. Following Carraway is junior attackman Daniel Bucaro with 22 goals and 13 assists.
Amplo and Hoyas’ head coach Kevin Warne were college roommates at Hofstra and Amplo considers Warne to be one of his closest friends. However, that friendship will be put on hold Saturday as both teams try and get off on the right foot in conference play.
“Everyone is shooting for us because we’re the defending champs,” Amplo said. “Our guys have to play like they’re defending something that’s important to them.”
