Marquette women’s lacrosse is hungrier than ever.
In a record breaking season, the Golden Eagles continue to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with as Marquette moved to 3-0 in the Big East for the first time in program history Saturday afternoon.
That third conference win? Just the program’s second Top 25 ranked win as Marquette (13-1, 3-0 Big East) took down No. 24 UConn (8-5, 1-2) at Valley Fields by a score of 12-9.
“We came in this week in this game with a chip on our shoulder, and especially I’ve never beaten UConn before,” senior attack Shea Garcia said. “So that was something to always works forward to and I’m really proud of this team. We’re tired. And I mean, you’ve got a great team, but we showed up today and you’re able to do it.”
Statistical Leaders
Garcia led the way for the Golden Eagles with four goals and one assist. Sophomore goalkeeper Brynna Nixon had 14 saves and nine goals allowed, setting a new career high.
Both graduate student attack Lia Laprise and junior attack Lauren Barry had two goals for UConn and redshirt first-year attack Rayea Davis tacked on three assists.
In the driver’s seat
After an early goal from the Huskies in the first quarter, the Golden Eagles took over the first half.
Senior midfielder Emma Soccodato evened things up at the 12:37 mark to even the score at 1-1.
“We had to figure out like what they were in and then we were able to play our game,” Garcia said. “We were able to work through that and still have seven offensive threats.”
But even through an extended 8-0 scoring run over 15 minutes, Marquette wasn’t only in control there.
The Golden Eagles forced eight turnovers through the first half and continued to outshoot the Huskies.
“We played full speed, we let our offense work,” Marquette head coach Meredith Black said. “We want to move the ball, want to change the point of attack, and then find that like, what we would call like a wide open look, versus maybe trying to manipulate it or force it.”
Garcia went on a 3-0 personal run to round out the first quarter and that momentum carried into the second when first-year attacker Tess Osburn scored her third goal.
UConn broke its scoring drought almost four minutes into the second quarter with an another goal from Laprise.
And despite both sides trading off goals for the remainder of the half, Marquette took UConn into halftime with its biggest deficit yet this season 10-3.
Call and Response
To open up play out of halftime, senior midfielder Lydia Foust scored her second goal of the game.
But the Huskies and the Golden Eagles once again went back and forth throughout the third quarter.
“They were pretty evenly matched,” Black said. “So we knew it would be a tight, tough game so our objective was to play full speed play to our standard.”
After the second Husky goal scored by Barry, Marquette took a timeout in hopes of shifting the momentum back.
“I just kept talking about playing to win versus playing not to lose,” Black said. “We needed to almost play as though the game was tied and keep pushing it, keep being aggressive.”
Mounting a Comeback
After Marquette’s timeout, UConn put one past Nixon, this time again from Barry.
From there, the Huskies continued the run and went on a 4-0 run over 14 minutes. Black took another timeout in hopes of ending the run.
“This is a game of momentum, a game of runs,” Black said. “When they get momentum, you got to try to take it from them one way or another. And goal really helps, an obvious momentum taker. But we gotta take that momentum back.”
The timeout was not enough as UConn scored yet another goal.
But behind a 14 save performance from Nixon, Marquette held on and defeated UConn.
Up Next
Marquette will begin a two game road trip starting in Indianapolis Wednesday against Butler at 12 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Emma Kroll. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @emma_kroll_.
