After falling to No. 16 Michigan by two goals Tuesday, the Marquette men’s lacrosse snapped its three-game losing streak Saturday afternoon defeating Detroit Mercy 13-7 at Valley Fields.
“We work really hard in practice, even harder than in games sometimes, so we’ve prepared for this (game) hard. Three losses really fueled us,” first-year attacker Will Foster said.
First-year attacker Bobby O’ Grady led the Golden Eagles with four goals on the afternoon, while Foster finished with a hat-trick.
“We had a lot of freshmen step up today. They made some freshmen mistakes, but they also made some great plays,” head coach Andrew Stimmel said. “There’s going to be some mistakes, but especially with young guys, we can’t limit what we feel like they can do. We got to put full trust in them.”
The Titans set the pace for the game by quickly scoring their first goal two minutes into the game. The Golden Eagles did not bring the score to 1-1 until just over six minutes later when redshirt sophomore midfielder Chris Kirschner put the ball past Titans’ goalie Jakob Hemme.
At 4:04 left in the initial frame, true first-year attacker Nolan Rappis was injured. Rappis contributed one goal in the period, which marked his fourth of the season. He did not return to action on the field for the remainder of the game.
The first frame was a back-and-forth battle as it wrapped up 3-3.
The Golden Eagles added fuel to their momentum in the second quarter. Bobby O’Grady, from Milton, Massachusetts, scored all four goals within the quarter.
With contribution from sophomore midfielder Pierce Washburn and Foster, the Golden Eagles held a lead of seven over the Titans with the score going into halftime was 10-3.
“Our young guys settled in and took a deep breath, and started playing Marquette Lacrosse,” Stimmel said.
Both teams were scoreless throughout the opening minutes of the second half until Detroit put back-to-back goals past redshirt first-year goalie Michael Allieri.
Just seconds later, redshirt sophomore Luke Williams, a player of the face-off position, scored his first goal of the season for Marquette as he brought the score to 11-5 with 9:58 left in the third.
The third quarter presented minimal progress for either team. The fourth quarter kicked off with the score standing at 11-6.
The final frame kept a similar pace as the third. With 2:37 left on the clock, first-year midfielder Hayden Miller scored his first collegiate goal. The Golden Eagles outshot the Titans 46 to 36 to end the afternoon.
“It’s always good to get that win. It gives the guys some confidence back in the locker room,” Foster said.
Marquette (2-3) will round out its our-game home stand next Saturday against Drexel University Saturday.
This article was written by Ava Mares. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @avamaresMU
