It’s hard to believe this one was ever in doubt.
Marquette (6-4, 1-1 Big East) scored its second most goals in a single game in program history Saturday afternoon as it took down St. John’s (0-11, 0-2 Big East) 20-10 at Valley Fields.
But, it didn’t start off that easy.
St. John’s scored the first two goals of the game putting Marquette in a situation of dropping its second straight Big East game. But the Golden Eagles found their groove after the first quarter to earn their third home win of the season.
“We just allowed ourselves I think to take a deep breath there and just stay the course,” Marquette head coach Andrew Stimmel said. “From there we played a really good game after that slow first quarter. We really responded and played more aggressive after that.”
First Half Fight Back
Sophomore attacker Bobby O’Grady didn’t let the two goal deficit sit for long as he responded with Marquette’s first goal of the game less than a minute after St. John’s scored. Senior attacker Jake Stegman evened up the score by the time the first quarter ended.
The second quarter was all Marquette. O’Grady scored two more times and senior attacker Devon Cowan added two of his own as Marquette opened up the contest on a 5-0 run.
First Goal, First Hat Trick
Having just played what some might call a perfect quarter, Marquette didn’t stop there. The second half kicked off with two more Marquette goals, including O’Grady’s fourth goal of the game.
“We would have loved to have more. Our offense is going to look at some film and we could have finished some more off there but I’m happy for our guys,” Stimmel said. “I really put an emphasis on shooting and finishing the last couple of weeks and it’s about that process and being consistent.”
St. John’s didn’t let Marquette reach 10 straight goals as the Johnnies got one back midway through the third quarter after a 28 minute scoreless drought.
It took three more Marquette goals before St. John’s scored again. At this point, with Marquette leading 12 to four, Stimmel gave some run to the bench.
Just before the end of the third quarter, first-year attacker Charlie Reynolds scored his first collegiate goal with a behind the back shot.
“He’s just a cool customer,” Stimmel said. “He’s a guy that shows up and does his job. He doesn’t look at like ‘Division I lacrosse and the Big East, it’s my second game’, he doesn’t get involved in it. He shows up and it’s the same kind of plastic, net and field. All that stuff is the same to him.”
Reynolds scored twice more before the game was over.
“It feels great,” Reynolds said. “I’ve been waiting for a while and it just happened to be today.”
The fourth quarter had 13 of the game’s 30 goals.
Marquette started off with three straight before St. John’s responded with four of its own. Despite the four goal run, St. John’s was still down eight goals with five minutes left to play.
With the game feeling wrapped up heading into the final seconds, both teams snagged a goal in the last 10 seconds of regulation.
Marquette earned its first Big East win of the season with the victory.
Statistical Leaders
In a landmark offensive game for the Golden Eagles, six players ended with more than one goal. O’Grady led the way with four goals in the contest. On the season, the sophomore has 28 goals which is the seventh best goal scoring season in program history.
“He’s got the mentality that every time the ball touches his stick he feels like he can put it away,” Stimmel said. “He makes everybody around him better. Everybody has that fear of a scorer. The other five guys on the field are always gonna be more open because everybody’s so concerned with 13.”
With Cowan’s two goals in the contest, he is now the fourth player in program history to record 100 career points.
Reynolds had three goals and graduate student attacker Jackson Rose had two goals and an assist.
“Though we won, there’s a lot to take away from this,” Reynolds said. “We have to keep playing as a team, work hard and practice.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Michael Allieri started in goal for the Golden Eagles and made eight saves while allowing five goals through three quarters and change.
Down the stretch, junior goalkeeper Jamie Grant made his third career appearance for the Golden Eagles.
“Allieri in goal did a great job making some stops and saves,” Stimmel said. “Those guys were really connected down there and it bleed over into the offensive end.”
Heading deeper into Big East play, Reynolds said he wants to prove what the team can do.
“We’re going to show everybody what we can do,” Reynolds said. “Play our game and make sure we do it.”
Up Next:
Marquette heads to Ithaca, New York for the second leg of three game stretch in seven days. The Golden Eagles will take on Cornell (7-2, 3-1 Ivy League) at 11 a.m. CST Tuesday, April 11 with the game being broadcast on ESPN+.
This article was written by John Gunville. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GunvilleJohn.
