With six different goal scorers, Marquette women’s lacrosse used a balanced offensive attack to defeat the Niagara Purple Eagles 16-6 Sunday afternoon.
“Our team had good energy,” head coach Meredith Black said. “Our biggest message (to our team) is that everyone is important. Different people are stepping up in different moments both offensively and defensively.”
Junior midfielder Caroline Peterson led the way for MU, tallying four goals. Caroline Steller, Lydia Foust and Hannah Greving followed with hat tricks of their own.
“We don’t have one person that’s going to do it every single game,” Black said. “We know that, and that’s OK. Everyone has to know and understand their strengths and play to them.”
With her performance, Peterson has now surpassed her career-high of four goals after today’s match.
“She was great,” Black said. “She’s just starting to settle into her role. She saw playing time in the past but nothing consistent. Now, she’s seeing consistent playing time and she’s stepping up.”
“It was really exciting,” Peterson said. “We have so much trust on our attack. We make mistakes, we get the ball back for each other and we keep going.”
Marquette took command from the beginning, scoring the first eight goals. The Golden Eagles went into halftime leading 9-1.
Less than 30 seconds into the second half, Marquette was able to score. MU continued its offensive dominance throughout the game, leading by as much as 12 goals.
The Golden Eagles dominated the control battle, winning 19-of-24 draws thanks to junior midfielder Emily Cooper and Ellie Henry who finished with seven and nine respectively. This was the fifth straight game MU has had the advantage in draws.
“Emily Cooper is awesome,” Black said. “She’s really smart and really understands the draw. Her, Ellie Henry and Erin Dowdle all play the circle together, and they work really well.”
Goalies Julianna Horning, Sophia Leva and Delaney Friel split time in the cage. Most notably, Leva racked up six saves and allowed just one goal in 30 minutes of play.
For the Purple Eagles, senior midfielder Shea Swartwout notched a team-high four goals.
Marquette controlled possession throughout the game and outshot Niagara 40-20. The Purple Eagles had a slight advantage in ground balls, 16-14.
With the win, MU improves to 15-4 in its last 19 games at Valley Fields.
Marquette (3-2) will head back on the road to take on Arizona State University Thursday in Temple at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time. The Golden Eagles will look for their first road win of the season.
“We just have to continue to build on our strengths but also fine-tune some of that little stuff,” Black said. “Fouling on defense, we’ve got to limit that. We’ve got to have more discipline.”
This story was written by Tyler Peters. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @_tylerpeters_.
