The women’s lacrosse team fell for the first time at the Valley Fields dome this season after a 17-11 loss against Denver.

“We are pissed off after this loss,” Marquette senior attacker Charlotte McGuire said.

With the loss, the Golden Eagles (9-6, 5-2 BIG EAST) are tied for third in the conference with Denver (10-4, 5-2 BIG EAST).

Marquette out-muscled Denver in the draw circle, 22-8. Junior midfielder Grace Gabriel had a career high of 13 draw controls, breaking her previous record of 81 and setting it at 93. Despite Marquette’s success in the circle, the Golden Eagles had 16 turnovers in the first half.

“Sixteen turnovers in one half is a lot,” assistant coach Caitlin Fifield said. “That’s what we try to have in one game.”

The Golden Eagles quickly got on the board first with a free position shot from McGuire, initiating a 2-0 run. Junior midfielder Grace Gabriel scored unassisted on the run. Denver answered a minute later with an unassisted goal from Kendra Lanuza, and the next eight minutes of play were a back-and-forth scoring battle.

The Pioneers then went on a 5-0 run, giving Denver an 8-5 lead. Senior attack Riley Hill answered for the Golden Eagles off a free position shot, but Denver had an 8-6 lead at halftime.

“We were a little up and down on offense. It really just was a lack of connection between some of our low attackers,” Fifield said. “We were trying to force some passes that weren’t there.”

Marquette tied the game at 9-9 early in the second half, but Pioneers midfielder Riley Eggeman quickly ended Marquette’s run with an unassisted goal and initiated a 5-0 run. McGuire kept the game competitive with back-to-back goals, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback.

“We beat ourselves in this game,” Fifield said. “We’re going to take some learning lessons from ourselves, things that we did great, things we did really poorly and just make adjustments going forward.”

Head coach Meredith Black was on maternity leave but was in attendance with her family. At one point, she got off the bleachers to talk to Hill during the game.

The Golden Eagles will travel to Washington D.C. to take on Georgetown Saturday at 11 a.m. Central time.