Marquette women’s lacrosse lost 15-13 to the Villanova Wildcats in a close game Saturday afternoon.
Both teams had scoring runs at different points in the game, but the game remained relatively close throughout.
Senior midfielder Lindsey Willcocks scored Marquette’s first goal before graduate student Charlotte McGuire scored MU’s next three goals to get an early hat trick. However, Villanova used a 4-0 run to end the first half with a 9-4 lead.
“We just need the ball,” head coach Meredith Black said. “We can’t score without the ball.”
The Wildcats came into the second half with goals from Kim McDonough and Brittany Bruno in the first three minutes. These goals extended Villanova’s lead to 11-4, which was the largest lead of the game.
The Golden Eagles answered with a 7-0 run in the middle of the second half to tie the game at 11-11. Goals came from Willcocks, junior Megan Menzuber, freshman Shea Garcia and senior captain Grace Gabriel.
Menzuber, Garcia and Gabriel are usually reliable options for Marquette’s offense, but they did not score until the second half.
“At halftime we talked about keeping up our ball movement and trusting each other in our passes,” Willcocks said.
Villanova took a 13-11 lead following goals from Bruno and Nicole Concannon, but then Marquette tied it again after Willcocks and Garcia put shots in the back of the net.
Marquette could not hold on any longer, as two Villanova goals in the last three minutes resulted in the 15-13 final score.
“I think the problem was consistency throughout the whole 60 minutes of the game,” Black said.
Despite losing the team’s BIG EAST opener, the Golden Eagles have a lot to learn from this game.
“This one obviously stings a little bit, but it also gives us a chip on our shoulder,” Willcocks said. “We are ready for the next one, and everything we learned today is just going to make us do even better next time.”
Marquette (6-7, 0-1 BIG EAST) will continue conference play next Saturday against Butler at Valley Fields at 4 p.m. Central Standard Time .
“We have to have confidence and we need to believe,” Black said. “We have to learn how to play consistently and find that way of climbing higher and higher.”
