After falling to Robert Morris last time out on the road, the Marquette men’s lacrosse team returned to Valley Fields for its final non-conference matchup Saturday afternoon, dropping 16-9 to the Air Force Academy.
“We knew Air Force would be a great offense coming in here today, I thought we had great moments from our defense, but the margin of error against a good team is always going to be thin,” head coach Andrew Stimmel said.
With the loss, Marquette drops its third-straight contest and enters BIG EAST play next week struggling to get in the win column.
Despite the Golden Eagles taking an early 1-0 lead after redshirt first-year attacker Luke Blanc’s fourth goal of the season 48 seconds into the game, Air Force responded quickly with three-straight goals where they would lead for the remainder of the game.
At the end of the first quarter, Marquette trailed 5-2 after Brandon Dodd scored for Air Force with three seconds remaining in the opening frame.
Air Force would then extend its lead in the second quarter, scoring the first three goals in the frame to take an 8-2 lead with 7:52 before halftime.
First-year attacker Bobby O’Grady, who led Marquette with 19 goals coming into Saturday’s contest, pulled one back for the Golden Eagles with just over a minute remaining in the first half to cut the deficit to 9-4 at the break.
O’Grady’s lone goal continues his streak of scoring in every game this season.
Marquette would not go away in the second half however, scoring three-straight goals to start the third quarter to cut the Air Force lead to 9-7 with 6:23 left in the frame.
Air Force responded with three goals of their own in the quarter, including two more from Dodd following Marquette’s run to start the second half, extending its lead back to 12-7 going into the final 15 minutes of play.
In the final frame, Air Force would crush the hopes of any Marquette comeback, extending its lead to 15-7 to cap off a 6-0 scoring run.
“Runs and momentum are just a huge part of the game, so I think just limiting those runs in the future is what we need to focus on,” Stimmel said.
Marquette’s offensive struggles continued to hurt them in the end, as the team failed to reach double figure scoring for the second-straight contest.
Dodd led the way for the Falcons with a game-high five goals, while Blanc recorded his first career hat-trick for the Golden Eagles in his first start of the season.
First-year attacker Will Foster and redshirt sophomore attacker Jake Stegman each added a goal a piece for Marquette on the afternoon.
Marquette (2-6) will now begin BIG EAST play April 2. against Providence at Valley Fields. Face-off for the Golden Eagles BIG EAST lid lifter against the Friars is set for 11 a.m. CST.
“We need to continue to emphasize playing with tremendous effort and toughness through 60 minutes going forward,” Stimmel said.
This story was written by Sam Arco. He can be reached @[email protected] or on Twitter @SamArcoMU.
